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CENTURY OF PURITANISM, 



AND 



A CENTURY OE ITS OPPOSITES ; 

WITH 

RESULTS CONTRASTED TO ENFORCE PURITAN PRINCIPLES, AND 

TO TRACE WHAT IS PECULIAR IN THE PEOPLE OF LYNN 

TO WIL\T IS PECULIAR IN ITS HISTORY. 



By parsons COOKE, 

rA^STOR OP^^iflPl^rE FIRST CHURCH IN LYNN. 



BOSTON: 
S. K. WHIPPLE AND COMPANY 

161 Washington Street. 
1855. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1855, by 

PARSONS COOKE, 

In the Clerk's Offlr« of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



STEKEOTYPED AT THE 
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FODNDRT. 



PREFACE 



The people of Lyim are no race of imitators. 
They are in one sense, if not in the best sense, a pe- 
culiar people. And they have the advantage, or dis- 
advantage, of being well known abroad. But the 
causes which have made them what they are, are not 
so well known abroad. Yet they should be. For 
such a knowledge is capable of being turned to a rich 
account. The rehgious history of the town has been 
very pecuhar, and in that are found the sources of the 
existing peculiarities of the people. And all the re- 
markable turns of the history give illustration of the 
force of important principles of Christianity. 

This work was first produced in the form of lectures 
for the pulpit; and that form is now only partially 
thrown off. So far as the interest of the book might 
be enhanced by retaining it, it has been retained. 
The work was first undertaken for the simple purpose 
of writing the history of the First Church of Lynn, 

(3) 



4 . PREFACE. 

for mere local use. But we soon found that we were 
opening springs that ought to flow abroad. We 
found that it abounded in materials of general in- 
terest. It is local in the sense that it describes 
events, which occurred in a single place. But those 
events are full of instruction, as to the practical power 
of principles in which all Christians have a deep in- 
terest. A history of the battle of Waterloo has its 
local characters ; but its history is a book for the world, 
because the world has a common interest in its events. 
So here, struggles have existed, and principles have 
produced their results, in which all Christians have a 
common interest. Hence our history, so far as it gives 
the narrative of the experience of the First Church 
in Lynn, is a mere thread upon which to hang our 
illustrations and arojuments. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

The relative Age of the Church. — The Time of its Origin. 
— Its first Preacher, Mr. Bachellor.— The original Materials 
of the Church. — Sketch of the Life of the first Pastor. . 29 



CHAPTER II. 

Influence of the Commemoration of Ancestors. — Mr. Whiting 
and the Courts on clasliing Jurisdictions. — Life of Rev. 
Thomas Cobbett 51 



CHAPTER III. 

Evanescence of earthly Fame. — Life of Rev. Jeremiah Shep- 
ard. — Puritan Church Architecture. — The " Tunnel " 
Meeting House. — Origin of the Quakers. — Origin of 
Lynnfi eld Parish. — General Prosperity of Shepard's Min- 

istr)' 75 

1*- 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Persecutions. — All Sections of the Church involved. — The 
Facts in the Case. — Persecutions of the Baptists. — Early- 
History of the Lynn Quakers. — The Creed of the Quakers. 
-- Exaggerations on both Sides.— Quakers also persecuted. 

— The Quakers' Divine Call. — The Facts and Principles 
that led to it 106 

CHAPTER V. 

Close of Mr. Shepard's Ministry. — Calling of a Colleague. 

— Settlement of Mr. Henchman. — His opposing the Re- 
vival. — His Conflict with "Whitefield. — Consequent Parish 
Quarrels 170 

CHAPTER VI. 

Further Sketch of Mr. Henchman's History. — His Lawsuit 
with the Parish. — His Death. — Formation of the West 
End Parish. — Settlement of Mr. Treadwell. — Change of 
Terms of Admission to Communion. — Half Way Covenant. 

— Ministers in the Revolutionary War. — Mr. Treadwell's 
Dismission. — Settlement of Mr. Parsons. — Conflicts with 
him. — Succession of Methodists 192 



CHAPTER VII. 
How Life was preserved amid so much Death. — Church re- 
duced to five Male Members. — Sketch of the first Intro- 
duction of Methodism to Lynn. — First Methodism in the 
Country. — Lee's Itinerancy. — Carrying off the Church 
Plate. — Call of Dr. Harris. — Methodist Appeals to igno- 
rant Passions 234 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Estimate of Methodism 252 

CHAPTER IX. 
Estimate of Methodism 278 

CHAPTER X. 
Modes of Defence against Methodist Aggression 310 

CHAPTER XI. 

Mr. Thacher's Ministry. — Mr. Hurd's Ministry 342 

CHAPTER XII. 
Mr. Rockwood's Ministry 362 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Rev. Mr. Peabody's Ministry. — Settlement of the present 
Pastor. — Building of the Meeting House. — History of 
the Debt and its Extinction. — The Temperance Conflict. 386 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Causes of Union. — Comeouters. — Spiritual Progress. — 
Swampscot Church. — Central Church 410 



Appendix 443 



INTRODUCTION 



The church in Egypt and in the wilderness hardly- 
sustained a more striking correspondence with its 
divinely chosen emblem — that of the bush burning 
but not consumed — than has the chui'ch that was first 
planted by the Puritan fathers in Lynn. Few 
churches have lived so long among so many powerful 
causes of death. The church in Egypt lived, in 
spite of the policies and forces employed to extinguish 
it, because it lived in the life of Christ and in the 
purpose of God, and its life was supported with a view 
to the wonderful events to be evolved in its future 
history. It lived in the life of its Redeemer, which 
no powers of earth or hell could quench. A like ex- 
perience is often had in a branch of the church of 
Christ reduced to the last remnants, and yet pre- 
served. Of this experience the church planted by 
the Puritans in Lynn has partaken largely. The 
bush inflamed, but not consumed, is an epitome of her 

(0) 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

history. Her history is that of a church that has 
lived, by a supernatural vitality, in spite of powerful 
causes of destruction; and for nearly a century of 
her life she seemed to be approaching the grave. 

The spiritual life of a church, in its outward demon- 
strations, is usually so frail and so feeble against op- 
posing elements, that one would think that its enemies 
had need only to let it alone and see it die, or that 
a few vigorous onsets would destroy it. But in this 
instance, its half-extinct vitality was preserved, amid 
causes of destruction more than sufficient. As we 
trace the thread of its life backward, through the 
events which Providence appointed to it, it seems a 
wonder of wonders that it is now alive, and having 
the same unbroken current of life that was opened 
here by the Puritan immigrants, more than two hun- 
dred and twenty years ago. 

From my first acquaintance with the outhnes of 
this history, I felt that its materials should be gathered 
and preserved. But want of time has prevented my 
attempting it — till now the desire to see it done has 
kindled as a fire in my bones, and compelled me to do 
what I can towards it. The reasons why this history 
should be set forth are of two kinds — those that con- 
cern the people of Lynn, and those that are of gen- 
eral interest. The history of this church has many 
striking turns and contrasts, which illustrate princi- 



INTRODUCTION. 1 1 

pies ill which all Christians are interested. As to 
these, all are naturally anxious to inquire what it was 
that produced the peculiar characteristics of the peo- 
ple in Lynn, for which she is famed the world over. 
This mystery has an easy solution, in the history be- 
fore us. As a matter of mere philosophical inquiry, 
it is worth our perusal. 

But for reasons still more general, so remarkable a 
history as this ought to be put on a legible record. 
History shows the hand of God, and is God's chosen 
method of instruction. Churches as well as individ- 
uals have their experience, and most effectually learn 
wisdom by that experience. Inspiration teaches mainly 
through historical facts, and church history is the bur- 
den of its labor, and in its pages church history is 
made to transcend all other histories in the dignity 
and elevating force of its themes. Moses, the first 
born of historians, gives but two or three of his chap- 
ters to the history of the world, and all the rest to 
that of the church. For the history of the church is 
the history of the people whom God has redeemed as 
his special treasure, on which his Spirit does its choicest 
Vv'ork — the people in whom flows the very life of his 
Son : it is the history of that kingdom which consists 
not in meats and drinks, but in righteousness and peace, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost. It shows wonderful wis- 
dom and poAver, preserving the church amid hostile 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

forces, and calls us at every turn to see this great 
sight, the bush inflamed but not consumed. As the 
value of the world is in the church, so the value of 
all history is in church history; and hence the two 
short books of church history, written by Luke, con- 
tain materials of more interest to the world, — yea, 
and what is destined to command more attention fl-om 
the world, than all the books of merely secular history. 
The achievements of a single man, Saul of Tarsus, 
sketched there in a few chapters, are to emit more 
true and lasting glory than those of all the earth's 
plunderers, misnamed conquerors. In planting and 
sustaining, amid temptations and corruptions, branches 
of the church of Christ, in describing the sources from 
which came their assaults and salvations, in depicting 
the sublime qualities and shining examples of those 
whom God raises up, from time to time, to be her 
Aarons, Joshuas, Davids, and Solomons, we have 
themes which, for noble grandeur and thrilling interest, 
as much surpass the battles of the warrior as the in- 
terests of eternity surpass the trifles of time. 

And their history is all a record of God's processes 
of teaching religion through experience — the most ef- 
fective of all teaching. Because this is the most effec- 
tive mode, the Author of the Bible has for the most 
part taught through historical facts ; and when these 
were not at hand, has woven supposed facts into 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

fables, to serve in tlieir stead. And a church may 
profit by its own experience as really as an individual. 
For each church has a life of its own, and one life 
extending through successive generations. So that 
the accumulated results of its experience, so far as 
they are preserved, may come together as in some 
sense the experience of its Hving members. The 
present members are interested in what was done by 
their j)redecessors, whose delinquencies have been oc- 
casions of present burdens, and whose prayers and 
godly zeal have been the occasion of .present blessings. 
So the facts in the history of one branch of the 
church belong especially to that branch. Besides 
their general interest, they have a peculiar interest to 
them. They are in some sense matters of their expe- 
rience, and sources of their instruction. They come 
home to them as they cannot to others. Though 
perhaps none of the blood of the founders of your 
church runs in your veins, yet the fact that you have 
brought your life into one current with theirs, makes 
their ecclesiastical experience, in more than a figura- 
tive sense, your experience, and gives you an interest 
in what was said and done, affecting the spiritual 
prosperity of that confederation of believers with 
which your own spiritual life is now blended. By 
such processes, the experience of one generation 
transmits itself to the succeeding ; and the experience 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

of all generations, in one line of spiritual life, runs into 
tlie experience of the living generation, and should 
be made a source of ever-accumulating instruction. 
Hence we are bound to complete, as far as may be, 
the records of the past, and " tell it unto the genera- 
tion following." For the history of the past and of the 
present constitutes the books which God has written 
out by the finger of his providence, and these books 
are committed in charge to us, to be copied out and 
preserved for the generations following. 

But the materials of the history of this church 
ought to be well known, because they are m them- 
selves peculiarly valuable. There are crises and events 
in this history that challenge special attention, for the 
illustration which they give to important principles. 
Few churches have had all the varieties of striking 
changes and perilous crises which this has undergone. 

The age of this church is another reason why its his- 
tory should be preserved. It were a wrong done to all 
our churches, if the history of one of the oldest existing 
Puritan churches in Massachusetts, and the oldest that 
occupies the place of its original planting in the whole 
country, should be lost. The fact that her elder sis- 
ters, that led in the van, have ceased to exist as 
churches of Christ, and sundered the thread of life 
and history that connected them with the Puritan 
origin, now gives special interest, and will in coming 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

generations give still more interest, to the few first 
planted churclies that endured in the day of trial. 
A well-written history of this church, conducting the 
reader by a luminous path back to the springs so con- 
necting the future expansions of the Puritan hfe with 
its origin, must be a valuable legacy to your successors 
here, and to the whole sisterhood of Puritan churches. 
While the Plymouth rock attracts the reverence of 
countless pilgrims, because it was the first that was 
pressed by the feet of the Pilgrim band, will not that 
one first planted here of those that still rest on the 
Rock of Ages be an object of interest, in coming times, 
with all those who are also built on the foundations of 
the prophets and apostles ? 

But there are local reasons of great force why thia 
history should be written. Justice to the present 
members of the church requires it. A stranger to its 
liistory must judge of it by present appearances. 
And he cannot see why, after having had the ground 
so long, it should have covered so little of it. He 
naturally asks. Is that all that you have done by 
the labor of two hundred and twenty-thi-ee years ? 
History comes in with a satisfactory answer to this 
question, and for that reason, if there were no other, 
it should be produced, and wrought into the common 
material of public knowledge. It is fit that the world 
should know how this church has been betrayed, per- 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

verted, and crippled; aiid how her life blood has 
been drawn from her, till she approached the very- 
verge of annihilation ; and with what protracted and 
desperate struggles, against what a host of obstacles, 
with what sacrifices, she has been brought back thus 
far. Let this be known, and she asks no other vin- 
dication from the suspicion of culpable feebleness. 

Still more unportant is it that the purity and effi- 
ciency of our evangelical principles should be vindi- 
cated, by conveying to the pubHc knowledge the facts 
in our history. At the first glance, the appearance is, 
that Puritanism has here had the ground for more than 
two centuries, and yet has suffered it to be overrun with 
briers and thorns. Few, even very few of the population 
of Lynn have a knowledge of our history sufficient to 
correct this impression. Most of the present genera- 
tion of Lynn know that this is the original church, 
and suppose that it has always been, as to the doc- 
trines preached, and as to the purpose of its efforts, 
what it now is. And from the fact that it has held its 
ground so long, and spread itself so little, it is that its 
principles must have little life and force. If the ground 
of this inference were a reality, we ought indeed to 
blush for being members of such a church ; for we should 
give serious occasion to question the vitality and sound- 
ness of our principles. We blame not the world for 
judging a tree by its fruits. We have been forward to 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

court the application of this test to Puritanism. We 
have regarded the wonderful and beneficent results of 
Puritanism in forming the character and structure of 
this nation, and in diffusing manifold blessings over 
the world, as a triumphant proof of its identity with 
the religion of Cln*ist. Nor do we shrink from the 
application of the same test to Puritanism so far as it 
has lived and labored in the life of this church. We 
only ask that the facts may be laid out to view, so 
that Puritanism may be made responsible only for what 
belongs to it ; that that may not be taken as a fruit 
of Puritanism which was the product of its opposites. 
History embraces materials for setting out with the 
clearness of a sunbeam the fact, that while this church 
contained, in individual members, some remnants of 
Puritan life, and always professed adherence to the 
Puritan faith, her ministry was for nearly a century 
heartily and industriously at work in opposition to 
that faith and life. We claim that this hostile minis- 
try of three generations shall not be charged to us 
as a Puritan ministry, and that its fruits shall be car- 
ried to the tree that produced them ; and then we are 
quite willing that the rule of judging the tree by its 
fruits shall have a full application. 

For the present and future success of our princi- 
ples, we depend much on the state of the public con- 
science respecting them — on what is the general esti- 
2* 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

mate of their purity and intrinsic power. Who does 
not see that the progress of our principles here is 
impeded by a world of misconception of the nature 
alluded to. The remembrance and traditions of past 
scandals have so prejudiced the public mind, and so 
small is the desire to know the truth respecting us, 
that probably not one in ten of the whole population 
has any thing approximating to the true idea of our 
history, or of the Puritan life. Our principles lie 
under mountains of reproach, by reason of false rep- 
resentations made of them, during nearly a century, 
by ministers falsely assuming their name, to under- 
mine and destroy them. With a vast multitude 
really ignorant of us, we bear odium coming from the 
malfeasance of some of our predecessors. Could we 
stand simply upon our merits, that is, the merits of 
our principles, while these principles are actually 
held and preached, it were less to be regretted. But 
it will take one century, at least, for this church to 
live down the reproaches accumulated by the abuse 
which she suffered in the century gone. Neither 
our preaching nor our lives, could they attain an 
apostolic excellence, would extinguish the countless 
traditions that convey tlie offensive odors of other 
times down to the nostrils of the present. It was a 
capital stroke of policy in Satan to put his own agents 
into the pastorate of this church, and employ them so 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

effectually to destroy the life of Puritanism in it, and 
then make the world believe that those agents of his 
were true samples of Puritanism, and their work the 
projDer fruits of an orthodox faith. And lest Satan 
should keep the advantage of this lie, we have need 
to open before this generation the history of the past, 
and remove the disguises. 

The history should be known for still another rea- 
son. The religious character of the town of Lynn is 
an enigma to those who are strangers to its history. 
Here, in the very heart of New England, on the very 
ground of the first planting of the principal colony, is 
a people, most of whom, perhaps, are lineal descend- 
ants of the first founders of the colony, presenting a 
religious character, in the general, very averse from 
the principles of the founders, and very unlike the 
general religious character of the other New Eng- 
land towns. This statement will not, of course, be 
taken as an offence ; for those who have departed 
from the Puritan faith glory in that departure, and 
must, of course, receive this statement as a compli- 
mentary concession. But whether it be so or not, the 
fact is indisputable, that Lynn, in its religious charac- 
ter, is widely diverse from that which has been gen- 
erally characteristic of New England; and it is im- 
portant that the world should better know the source 
of this diversity. We have here vastly more than 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

our proportion of infidelity, Universalism, and home 
heathenism ; and, with the materials which exist for 
the history of the first church, it is not difiicult to tell 
whence they come ; and the knowledge of their source 
is the first step to a knowledge of their remedy. If 
every man, w^oman, and child now knew, as they might 
know, what has brought in these soul-destroying isms, 
they could be resisted with double the effect with 
which they now can be. 

It is, then, no mere desire for literary exercise or 
entertainment which has impelled me to this work, 
but a purpose of public instruction on matters of vital 
interest. What I propose is, an effort to take away 
from the public mind a misconception which vastly 
hinders the progress of the pure gospel of Christ. 
The facts of this history will be presented, not as 
gratifications to an antiquarian or literary curiosity, 
but as proofs of the life and power of evangelical 
truth, and the destructive power of its opposites. I 
never undertook any work with a more earnest pur- 
pose to promote the ends of the gospel, and under a 
more urgent sense of its necessity. If the general 
current of men's apprehensions touching the fruits of 
Puritanism here could be changed into correspondence 
with the facts by any effort of mine, I should, in pro- 
curing that change, have lived to higher purpose than 
ever before. 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

Sujipose the devil, having made a Judas out of one 
of Christ's disciples, should have succeeded, in a given 
place, to make all men regard that Judas as a true 
specimen of Christ's disciples, and his work the true 
result of Christianity, and so to have wrought it into 
men's common ideas of Christianity, that, on every 
mention of the name Christian^ the image of Judas 
and his work would come before the mind, — would 
you not preach Christianity with small success to such 
a people till you had first disabused their minds ? So 
here, traditions of the past history of this church, and 
some of its ministers, are so abundant, and so charged 
with poison, that when Puritan orthodoxy is named, 
the repulsive features of some odious betrayers of the 
truth pass before the fancy as specimens of the thing. 
Urgent reasons, therefore, demand that this people 
should have the means of knowing that Judases are 
not the true disciples of Christ. 

But some may misgive, and feel that no demonstra- 
tion can vindicate Puritanism on ground where it has 
had such experience — for it once had the ground, and 
failed to keep it. It will be said, that after all show- 
ing, the fact exists, that Puritanism failed to perpet- 
uate its expansive force in this instance ; and does not 
such a failure betray an intrinsic weakness ? Let this 
point be especially considered ; for what is pertinent 
to it is applicable to all the instances which have 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

occurred in the whole of the Unitarian apostasy from 
Puritanism throughout New England. The question 
is, Does not a failure to hold the ground that it once 
had betray an intrinsic weakness ? Not at all. Pu- 
ritanism, or any other agent, works only where it is, 
and no longer than it is there. To prove that Puri- 
tanism made a failure, you must show that the failure 
in the forth-putting of Puritan life, and strength, 
and fruits took place while Puritan doctrines were 
preached — which is contrary to the fact. Puritan 
doctrine ceased to be preached in this church long 
before the fruit and life of those doctrines disappeared. 
Yea, by a sort of miracle of grace, a few buried em- 
bers of the original flame underlay the ashes and rub- 
bish that were heaped upon them through the most 
adverse times ; and from these, in our own times, the 
fire on our altars has been rekindled to a flame which 
gives promise of spreading far and wide. 

Besides, if a religious system has a failure in every 
instance wherein the treachery of its ministers, by 
bringing in its opposites, causes it to give place, then 
is the gospel of Christ itself a grand failure ; for over 
all the ground where Christ preached it with his liv- 
ing voice, it long since wholly ceased ; and in every 
church, without an exception, that was gathered by 
the apostles of Christ, it has failed to perpetuate itself. 

The question as to the failure or performance of a 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

religious system is, What fruits does it produce where 
and while it is in real action ? If, when Puritan doc- 
trines are preached, and Puritan institutions are main- 
tained, the proper results of the gospel — such as the 
conversion and sanctification of men — are experi- 
enced ; and more especially, if time proves the con- 
versions to be genuine in the permanent holy life and 
beneficent character of the converts ; if a consistent, 
abiding, and vigorous Christian life is produced by 
such preaching, then there has been no failure, how- 
ever long or short may be the ministry that does this. 
If, after the ministry of a church has done this for a 
century, by some fatal mistake an anti-Puritan minis- 
ter is put into a Puritan pulpit, whatever the failure 
may be called, it is not Puritanism failing to produce 
the proper results of gospel preaching. 

Having undertaken this work for grave reasons, 
those reasons will compel me to speak as one that 
is serious in a serious cause. I shall have need, for 
public reasons, to speak some things, which, in ordi- 
nary ch'cumstances, perhaps, it would be wise not to 
speak. I acknowledge the general correctness of the 
heathen maxim, "iVz7 mortuis nisi honum" But this 
must have its limitations, or no true history could be 
written. Pertinent is the reply of an English queen, 
made to a courtier, touching this matter. The cour- 
tier, in order to flatter the queen, had cast reproach 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

on a writer of the history of the Scotch church for 
having set forth, in true colors, the picture of " Bloody 
Mary." He said, " Is it not a shame, that, without 
any consideration of your royal person, this man 
should dare to throw such calumnies upon a queen 
to whom your royal highness has succeeded ? " " Not 
at all," she replied. " Is it not enough that by ful- 
some praises great persons must be lulled to sleep all 
their lives, but must flattery follow them to their 
graves ? How should they fear the judgment of pos- 
terity, if historians were not allowed to speak the 
truth of them after their death ? " The same prin- 
ciple applies to men bearing responsibilities in the 
church. The conventionalities of society guard them 
against too free a speech of their misdeeds while they 
live — and shall they also shut the mouth of history 
after they are dead? Truth is the polestar of the 
historian, to which he must adhere in spite of any 
loves or hates of the dead. So, whenever, in the 
course of this history, we have occasion to say what 
we would prefer not to say, of the living or dead, we 
shall simjDly ask. Does truth, or the true ends of our 
work, require it to be said ? We shall speak under 
the urgency of the necessities of the case. Historical 
facts that exist, and are material to the purpose, must 
not be omitted from motives of delicacy. And, as an 
interpreter of the facts, I must express without reserve 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

my own convictions. In speaking, as I shall have 
need to speak, of the tendencies of this and that sys- 
tem, I must speak with at least my usual frankness ; 
and my readers must bear with me for what may 
seem to them my imprudence. I have in this matter 
taken upon myself much labor, with the hope of a 
commensurate good ; and I am unwilling to lose my 
labor by any false delicacy restraining me from speak- 
ing the thing that needs to be spoken. 

But under the pretext of charity and impartiality 
towards all forms of religion, there lurks a very prev- 
alent contempt of all religions, and of the issues of 
all religious questions. This indifferentism, Gallio- 
like, takes to itself airs of superior dignity, and 
assumes to treat all questions of right or wrong in 
religion as equally beneath its notice. Such ques- 
tions are, forsooth, well enough to occupy the attention 
of women and children ; but an enlarged and liberal 
mind can look down upon their littleness. Persons 
of this class are essentially atheistic, and would be 
glad to see religion blotted from the memory of men. 
Yet for such a horrible vice they claim the credit of 
equal justice to all religions, yea, of a superior mag- 
nanimity, that looks with equal kindness on the weak- 
nesses of all — - yea, of especial peacemakers, who 
are pained at any earnest discussions of religious 
questions, and cannot endure to see neighbors set at 
3 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

variance on questions so trivial as those of riglit and 
wrong in religion. If it were a question of politics, 
to determine whether A, B, or C should have the 
offices, it might justify any amount of agitation. But 
if the question affect only morals and religion, — only 
man's life or death for eternity, — then it grieves them 
to see neighbors divided on matters so trivial. Then 
the thought is, All denominations are equally sin- 
cere, equally silly, equally right, and equally wrong, 
and all discussions between them are to be ruled out 
as unprofitable. 

This view of things extensively obtains, and it is the 
only consistent view with those who despise all religion. 
And yet the facts to be disclosed in this history will 
show it to be at war with common sense, even when 
restricted to the interests of the present world. For 
it does not provide for the plain fact that differ- 
ent religions produce different forms of civilization, 
pure or corrupt, according to their respective natures. 
This might be verified in all history. It will be 
specially verified in the history of Lynn, when we 
have shown what the peculiar form of religion that 
predominates in Lynn has done in forming the pecu- 
liar character of the people of Lynn. "Whether it 
flatters our vanity or not, it cannot be denied that we 
are a peculiar people, and that a pecuHar form of 
religion has entered largely into the causes of this 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

peculiarity. And every where, in spite of you, the 
question of this or that rehgion will go far to deter- 
mine the civil character of the people. And the 
characteristics of the people of any community in- 
volve important secular interests, as well as religious, 
affecting even the value of your houses and lands. 

When the change of the character of the ministry 
in Lynn, and in that the change of the character of 
the people, began, probably many thought it of no con- 
sequence, because it was only a religious matter, and 
would not change the latitude or climate of the place, 
nor alter the qualities of the soil. But religious 
causes went forward to their inevitable result on 
social character, and made the people of Lynn what 
they now are. Still the town of Lynn stands on the 
map just where it ever stood ; the sea breezes con- 
tinue as of old ; the fogs make their accustomed visits ; 
the waves continue their roll on the beach. But the 
characteristics of the people have become what they 
are, and w^idely different from what they were. In 
short, the history of Lynn is in itself one of the strik- 
ing illustrations of the effects of different religions 
on civil character and secular interests ; and in that 
single view it is of great value. 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



FIRST CHURCH 11^ LYNN 



CHAPTER I. 

The eelatite Age of the Church. — The Time of its 
Origin. — Its first Preacher, Mr. Bachellor. — The 
ORIGINAL Materials of the Church. — Sketch of 
the Life of the first Pastor. 

The order in which the first planting of the 
churches in the Massachusetts colony was con- 
ducted was — the church in Salem first ; next 
that in Charlestown, which afterwards removed 
to Boston ; next that in Dorchester ; next in 
Eoxbury ; and next in Lynn. That in Lynn was 
formed in May, 1632. In October of the same 
year the Charlestown church removed to Boston, 
leaving a minority to organize a new church, 
which is now the first church in Charlestown ; 
so that the Lynn church is from May to October 

3* (29) 



30 HISTORY OF THE 

older than that in Charlestown. All the 
churches that were planted here before the 
church in Lynn have now ceased to be numbered 
among the churches of the Puritan faith ; and 
the same may be said of those that were planted 
before it in the Plymouth colony. A claim has 
been set up to the effect that the church that 
was planted in Scituate in 1634, and afterwards 
removed to Barnstable, is older, because it was 
a transplant of the church first organized in 
Southwark, London. It has also been claimed 
that the church in Windsor, Connecticut, is the 
same organization that commenced in Dorchester 
and removed to Windsor. We have not yet 
seen the evidence that fully clears the way to 
the conviction of either of these positions. But 
we prefer here to make no assertions touching 
disputed points. We will state only what no 
one disputes ; and that is, that the first church in 
Lynn has been longer on the ground where it was 
first originally planted than any Congregational 
church in Am erica. And if what is claimed for the 
Barnstable church be true, this in Lynn has been 
longer on its ground than any other in the world. 
A question has been raised, whether the church 
in Lynn which commenced under the ministry of 



FIRST CHURCH IN LYNN. 31 

Mr. Bacliellor was the same with the present 
church — that is, whether, in the interim between 
Mr. Bachellor's leaving and Mr. Whiting's in- 
stallation, the organization was not broken. 
But that point was settled by a council at the 
time. It appears, from Winthrop's Journal, a 
council was called in Lynn, in 1634, to settle a 
division. Some of the opponents of Mr. Bach- 
ellor questioned whether they were a true church, 
and withdrew from the communion. " Both par- 
ties, after much debate, being heard, it was de- 
termined that they were a true church, though 
not constituted in due order ; yet after consent 
and practice of church estate had supplied that 
defect, and all were reconciled at that time." 

The settlement of Lynn by the English began 
in 1629. In that year, according to Lewis's His- 
tory, five families, including twenty persons, lo- 
cated themselves at Wood End — so called after 
the name of Wood, the head of one of the fam- 
ilies. The next year brought an addition of fifty 
persons, who settled themselves over all parts of 
the town. It was three years after the first family 
came before a church was formed. Then Rev. Ste- 
phen Bachellor came from England with his family 
and seven other persons, who settled with him at 



32 HISTORY OF THE 

Lynn. There appear to have been no formal 
proceedings in the organization of the church 
beyond the adoption of a covenant by the mem- 
bers. He commenced preaching to his friends, 
and the other people before in Lynn joining with 
them. But very soon a contention grew up be- 
tween him and the greatest part of the church, 
and he desired a dismission for himself and 
his first members. This was granted on condi- 
tion of their leaving town. Then he and his 
dismissed friends renewed their covenant be- 
tween themselves, and set up for a distinct 
church. At this the body of the people in town 
were offended, as it would stand in their way of 
settling another minister. They complained to 
the magistrates, who forbade Mr. Bachellor to 
proceed any further in that way till the cause 
was considered by the other ministers. But he 
refused to desist ; whereupon they sent for him, 
and, upon his refusal to come, a marshal was 
sent to fetch him. Upon his appearance and 
submission, and promise to remove out of town 
within three months, he was discharged. 

At the time of his coming hither Mr. Bachellor 
was seventy-one years old, though he had not then 
wholly outlived the sins of his youth. He lived 



FIRST CHURCH IN LYNN. 33 

afterwards also an irregular life, subject to not a 
little scandal, which we have no inclination here 
to repeat, till he had seen near a hundred years. 
He was a man of strong mind and strong pas- 
sions, and must have gone to the grave with a 
heavy account to settle. 

So in the very commencement of the history, 
I have had occasion to speak in terms not compli- 
mentary of one of its characters ; and I shall have 
much occasion to do the like hereafter — while, 
perhaps, some of the descendants of the persons 
not complimented may be among my readers. 
But they must find my apology in the fact, that the 
Bible histories never conceal such facts for any 
reasons of delicacy of that kind, but that some 
of the most honored names are set in the lineao^e 
of great offenders. The prophet Samuel was a 
descendant of Korah ; and Heman, the master 
of inspired song under David, was one of the 
sons of Korah. And Lewis's History makes this 
same Mr. Bachellor, of whom we have spoken, 
an ancestor of Daniel Webster. 

Having thus touched the first springs of the his- 
tory of the church in Lynn, glance now at its first 
materials, and see how it was planted — a noble 
vine — wholly a right seed. What sort of men 



34 HISTORY OF THE 

were these first fathers of Lynn, whose blood now 
runs in the veins of so many of its present inhabit- 
ants, whose confederated godliness and Christian 
enterprise opened here the current of spiritual life, 
with whose onward flow that of its present mem- 
bers has coalesced? They were no mean men 
for that day, nor for any day. They were a part 
of that company which God had picked out from 
the choice material of English society, to be act- 
ors in one of the great events of this world, 
and one of the great events of the church — the 
founding of the last, freest, greatest of empires. 
They were no speculating adventurers, roving 
vagrants, tossed like bubbles and froth on the 
waves of events, having a chance lighting upon 
this shore. They were not the chips and shav- 
ings of English society, but its substantial ma- 
terial, separated from the rest by powerful causes, 
in order to execute a great purpose of Jehovah. 
They were men whose minds and hearts were 
large enough to entertain some sense of the 
grandeur of their mission. The impulse which 
severed them from their country, to seek and pre- 
pare a new one, was one which only minds in the 
best sense great could entertain. It was no sordid 
expectation of riches that brought them hither. 



FIRST CHURCH IN LYNN. 35 

It was their love of triitb, and tlieir hope of 
founding a far-spreading empire for truth and 
salvation, that impelled them to face poverty 
and peril, and the rigors of a life in a wilder- 
ness. They had a higher end than that of secur- 
ing freer civil institutions. Indeed, they found 
no fault with what institutions they had at home, 
only so far as religion was hindered by them. 
They had little studied or cared for the maxims 
of political philosophy ; and the civil liberty 
which they in fact wrought out was a mere inci- 
dent — the product of the womb that conceived 
and developed their empire of freedom — free- 
dom "to feed upon immortal truth, to soar, 
and to anticipate the skies." The ends of 
civil liberty so vast, which they accomplished, 
were the result of their aspirations to a still 
grander purpose. In short, they were men of 
broad views, of lofty spirit, fit to be, as they 
were, founders of a nation and master builders 
in the church. 

The ministers of these immigrants hither were 
in scholarship among the brightest lights of their 
age, and in piety and flaming devotion to their 
Master's cause they were second to none of any 
ao:e. These were of the same material of which 



36 HISTORY OF THE 

the martyrs were made. Open now their printed 
pages, covered with the dust of two centuries, 
obscured by the antiquation of the costume of 
their thoughts, and yet you will, as you read, be- 
gin to feel a glow inflaming your own heart, and 
proceeding from inextinguishable fires of genius 
and fervors of piety. 

But the ministry had not a monopoly of talent 
or worth. Who were the people, the laymen, 
that first set themselves down upon this shore, 
and extended their lines along from Salem to 
Lynn, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dor- 
chester? In them English society had its best 
representatives — asking the pardon of noble- 
men, so called. These were doubly noble — noble 
by nature and by grace, born from above, and in- 
stinct with lofty aspirations. Here were gentle- 
men of ancient and aristocratic families — mer- 
chants, artificers, and husbandmen ; estimated 
on the common scale, men above their assumed 
employment ; but estimated by a truer wisdom, 
just the men for the work. In the labors of the 
wilderness they proved themselves what after- 
wards their brethren in England and the like of 
them were, as the citizen soldiers of CromwelFs 
army — not disdaining the place of a common sol- 



FIRST CHURCH IN LYNN. 37 

clier, while fit perhaps themselves to command an 
army. God had served a summons on the spirits 
of just that class of men in England which he 
wanted for a new and strange work that he 
had to do ; and, obedient to the call, men who 
were strangers to each other came forth out of 
diverse and distant places, guided by the plain 
hand of Providence, and impelled, each by his 
own particular occasions, to come together in 
this work. They broke away from all the at- 
tractions of home and country, and undertook a 
fearful voyage over almost trackless seas, into a 
terrible desert. If these were not heroes, tell 
us who were. 

Such in general was the character of the men 
of this colony. Nor have we reason to think 
that those who chose Lynn for their seat were 
in any respect behind their brethren. When our 
thoughts glance back to their humble beginnings, 
— their log cabins, their cleared patches in the 
woods, their scanty means and pauper life, — 
we must guard against measuring their qualities 
by their conditions. Those conditions were the 
cradle that contained an infant Hercules. Those 
cabins sheltered heroes and saints of the first 
water. At work upon that forest were mind? 
4 



38 HISTORY OF THE 

that made bishops sit uneasy in their seats, and 
caused the frame of English society to tremble ; 
and the like of which, a few years later, made 
the English monarchy a ruin. In that forest 
were men of whom the halls and palaces of the 
mother country were not worthy — men who 
came hither because they had souls and designs 
too great, beneficent, and free for bishops and 
princes to comprehend. 

We have few records of the every-day life and 
general spirit of that little company whom we 
call our founders, and who first on this ground 
opened the forest to the daylight. But one or 
two important facts may speak volumes as to 
their character. Theirs was a day when minis- 
ters were in a way to be more plenty than peo- 
ple among the emigrants, because they first and 
most severely felt the hand of persecution. 
Hence, from the first, it was common for a sin- 
gle church to sustain two ministers ; most of the 
first churches here did it. Their doctrine re- 
quiring two ministers for each church was the 
offspring of this plenty of ministers. The 
churches desired to gather into the colony as 
many ministers as possible, to meet the growing 
occasions and intensify the religious light and 



FIRST CHURCH IN LYNN. 39 

influence. So tliey made great sacrifices to sus- 
tain those which came over. These sacrifices 
were made for the common good, and evinced 
their public spirit. And in this good work the 
first planters in Lynn, seeking the common good, 
were not behind. In less than ten years after 
the first tree was here felled by an English axe, 
and in less than two years after the first pastor 
of the church was settled, there was settled with 
him a colleague, both of whom were sustained 
out of the small means of the infant church, 
each of whom had gifts and graces fit for the 
pastorate of the most enlightened church in 
the mother country, having been among the 
choice products of English universities. This 
double pastorage was sustained for twenty years 
-T-not of course for any necessity of this church, 
but for the public good ; for one such pastor as 
our Whiting might have sufficed to all the need- 
ful ministrations of two or three score of fami- 
lies. Yet for the common good, and to add to 
the general religious force of the colony, their 
deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their 
liberality. They sustained two ministers, not as 
drones or pensioners, but as active laborers. 
And while these labored to rich results among 



40 THE LIFE OF MR. WHITING. 

their own people, one of them, through his pen 
and the press, gave forth a light which guided 
many, both here and in England, in the path of 
life. 

We have seen that this church existed several 
years before it had a settled pastor. Its first 
preacher, Mr. Bachellor, who was here at its com- 
mencement, never acquired that relation. Rev. 
Samuel Whiting came hither in 1636, and, in a pas- 
torate of forty-one years, probably did more than 
any other to give character to the church. Samuel 
Whiting was the son of a mayor of the city of 
Boston, in England — born in 1597 — a gradu- 
ate of the English University of Cambridge. 
His conversion took place at the university, un- 
der the instrumentality of his tutor, Mr. Yates, 
and his religious character was very much devel- 
oped under the ministries of Drs. Sibbs and 
Preston. After finishing his course at the uni- 
versity, he became a chaplain in a distinguished 
family for three years, where with great zeal and 
fidelity he served the cause of religion. He 
spent the next three years in Lynn, England, as 
a colleague in the ministry with Mr. Price, an 
excellent minister. Here his work was inter- 
rupted by persecutions for his non-conformity. He 



THE LIFE OP MR. WHITIXG. 41 

was cited before the high commission court, and 
he expected severe treatment there. But the 
death of King James happening just at that 
time, found other employment for his persecutors, 
and the process was dropped. 

Leaving Lynn from necessity, he exercised his 
ministry for some time with much fruit in the 
vicinity of his native place, Boston. Here he 
came into intimate communion with Mr. Cotton, 
afterwards so renowned a leader in the Bos- 
ton of New England. Mr. Whiting married in 
England, and had three children there. But his 
wife and two of his children died before he en- 
tertained the purpose of coming hither. For his 
second wife he married the daughter of Oliver St. 
John, a gentleman of a distinguished family, and 
chief justice of England in Cromwell's time. She 
was a person of singular piety and gravity. She 
bore the whole burden of her husband's secular 
cares, and yet led a life of marked devotion and 
communion with God. She was wont to write out 
the sermons which she heard with much dexterity 
and fulness. She not only wrote them, but lived 
them, and lived on them through the week. 

This after-writing of sermons was facilitat- 
ed from the fact that the sermons of that 
4* 



42 THE LIFE OF MR. WHITING. 

day were not usually read by the preacher 
from manuscripts. They were either spoken 
extempore, as to language, or from memory. 
None of the preachers who first came over 
read sermons, except Mr. Wareham, of Dorches- 
ter. He produced quite a sensation by intro- 
ducing the practice of reading sermons from the 
pulpit. It was an unheard-of practice among 
preachers that were in earnest, and it was much 
opposed by those who had never heard him. 
But when the same persons came to hear him, 
they admired his energy and eloquence. Baxter 
was also one of the few readers of sermons in 
his days, a little later, and his defence of the 
practice is to the point. He said, "It is not 
for want of our abilities that makes us use our 
notes, but it is a regard for our work and the 
good of our hearers. I use notes as much as 
any man when I take pains, and as little as any 
man when I am lazy, or have not leisure to pre- 
pare. It is easier to us to preach three sermons 
without notes than one with them." There was 
so much reason in these views that they soon 
prevailed with the New England ministers. In 
those days of unwritten sermons it was the cus- 
tom of the hearers to take notes, or write 



THE LIFE OF MR. WHITING. 43 

out from memory what they could of the ser- 
mon, and rehearse it in the family at the even- 
ing prayers. In this, it seems, Mrs. Whiting- 
was especially expert ; and this the author of 
the History of Lynn mistakes for her having aid- 
ed her husband in the composition of sermons. 
But while true history gave her not this honor, 
it attributes to her a service of more value to 
her husband and her people — that which comes 
from the sympathy of earnest piety and devoted- 
ness to the minister's success in his calling, and 
her discreet cooperation in her proper sphere. 
And happy was Lynn in having such a pastor's 
wife employing her rare gifts to divide the cares 
and strengthen the heart and influence of her 
husband, while cradling the infancy of a church 
in a forest. And sublime was the spectacle of 
that daughter of wealth and rank enacting the 
Christian heroine here, while her father was fill- 
ing the highest seat of justice in England, great 
among the great men of his times. She lived 
with her husband forty-seven years, and died at 
the age of seventy-three. She had four sons and 
two daughters. Three of her sons were devoted 
ministers of Christ. One of them was, in his 
father's old age, an assistant of him here for a 



44 THE LIFE OF MR. WHITING. 

while. One son and one daughter died in Lynn. 
His son Samuel was a minister in Billerica. His 
son John went to England. His son Joseph 
went to South Hampton, Long Island, and settled 
in the ministry there. His daughter became the 
wife of Kev. Jeremiah Hobart, of Topsfield. 

But we return to the matter of Mr. Whiting's 
emigration from England. After Mr. Cotton 
had come over, the persecutions against Mr. 
Whiting were renewed, and he found that he 
must be gone. When the time of trial came, his 
wife showed no unwillingness to quit the circles 
of polished life in which she had been reared, 
and devoting her rich endowments of mind and 
heart to the toil of nursing an infant church in 
this wilderness. Her friends opposed, but she 
forwarded her husband's inclination. He had 
lands in England, which, if he had retained them, 
might have yielded him an income supplemental 
to his scanty living here. But he said, "I am 
going to sacrifice unto the Lord in the wilder- 
ness, and I will not leave a hoof behind me." 
After a voyage of six weeks, he arrived in Bos- 
ton, May 26, 1636 ; and most happy was he there 
in meeting with many of his former friends who 
had come over before him. 



THE LIFE OF MR. WHITING. 45 

The amiablencss and magnanimity of the man 
appears in his intercourse with his colleague. 
Impelled by a previous friendship for Mr. Cobbett, 
before he had himself got well settled and engaged 
in his work, on Mr. Cobbett's arrival he moved 
his peo^Dle to invite his friend to take part of 
his ministry. And the historian says, ''They 
continued a sweet pair of brothers till, on the 
removal of Mr. Norton to Boston, and Mr. Ro- 
gers to heaven, Mr. Cobbett was translated to 
Ipswich." " The rays with which they illumined 
the house of God sweetly united. They were 
almost every day together, and thought it a 
long day if they were not so. The one rarely 
travelled abroad without the other ; and these 
two angelic men seemed willing to give one 
another as little of jostle as did the ascending 
and descending angels on Jacob's ladder." If 
any are curious to know what earthly mainte- 
nance these angelic men had, and how much they 
must have lived on angels' food for want of hu- 
man sustenance, they may get some idea from a 
passage of Mather. He says, "The ungrate- 
ful inhabitants of Lynn one year passed a town 
vote that they could not allow their ministers 
above thirty pounds apiece that year for their 



46 THE LIFE OP MR. WHITING. 

salary, and behold the God who will not be 
mocked immediately caused the town to lose more 
than three hundred pounds, in the single article 
of their cattle, by one disaster." How much de- 
duction from their salary had been made he does 
not tell us ; and they might have been relatively 
an ungrateful people in that act. But the sixty 
pounds which they then paid, considering the 
value of money then, and the small means of 
the people, were paid at a greater sacrifice than 
is often now made for the support of the ministry. 

Such a blessing of God attended the small 
means of these ministers, that, in some respects, 
they that gathered little had no lack. Mr. 
Whiting ^said that he questioned whether, if he 
had remained in England, where his means were 
much more considerable, he could have brought 
up three sons at a university there. Owing to the 
skilful stewardship of his wife, to a legacy from 
a relative, and more to the blessing of God pro- 
viding for his faithful servants, he did not die a 
pauper. His estate at his death was as good as 
one of six thousand dollars would now be. 

At the age of sixty-two he began to endure 
the sujfferings incident to the disease called the 
stone. This visitation lasted twenty years, till 



THE LIFE OP MR. WHITING. 47 

his death, though, with all the suffering it brought 
to him, it never kept him from his pulpit labors. 
Mather says of him that he was an accom- 
plished and accurate scholar — especially accurate 
in the Hebrew, elegant in Latin, and much conver- 
sant with history. His sweetness of temper was 
an essential stroke in his character. His meek- 
ness of wisdom outshone all his other attainments. 
His face was the image of his mind, which, like 
the upper regions, was marvellously free from 
the storms of passion. He was eminently a 
holy man, much devoted to prayer and reading 
the Scriptures. He conducted the worship of his 
family like a true child of Abram. His counsel 
to his children was grave and memorable. He 
cultivated heavenly dispositions by much medi- 
tation. He having a walk for that purpose in 
his orchard, some of his flock, that saw him con- 
stantly taking his turns in that walk, with hand, 
eye, and soul directed to heaven, would say, 
" There does our dear pastor walk with God every 
day." The ground which he hallowed by that 
walk with God was not far distant from the 
place of our sanctuary. His house was in Shep- 
ard Street, opposite the meeting house, which 



48 THE LIFE OF MR. WHITING. 

stood near tlie corner, east of Shepard Street 
and north of Summer Street. 

A passage between him and Mr. Norton, of 
Boston, illustrates his character. Mr. Norton 
was deeply engaged in writing in Latin an ac- 
count and description of the New England 
churches, for the information of Christians on 
the continent. Some of his hearers imagined that 
his sermons, the mean while, had not the accuracy 
of his former efforts. This, says Mather, was 
reported to him whom I may call the angel of 
the church in Lynn. Mr. Whiting, upon this, 
said to Mr. Norton, " Sir, there are some of 
your people who think that the services wherein 
you are engaged for all the churches take off 
something of the edge of the ministry with 
which you should serve your own particular 
church. I would entreat you, sir, to consider 
this matter ; for our greatest work is to preach 
the gospel to that flock whereof we are over- 
seers." He took the hint with kindness, and 
profited by it. 

Mr. Whiting spent his time chiefly in his 
study. He made no visits to his people but 
those which had a strictly religious intent. He 



THE LIFE OP MR. WHITING. 49 

had a rare faculty of speaking a word in season. 
His end in preaching was to profit, ratlier than 
please — to speak what was useful, rather than 
what was profound or popular. In authorship 
he did not abound as much as his colleague did. 
He published two books — the one a volume of 
sermons on Abram's intercession for Sodom, and 
the other upon the last judgment. 

Such, in brief, were the character and works 
of the first pastor of this church ; and happy 
would it have been for her, and for the spiritual 
condition of this large population, if the char- 
acter of all his successors had been formed upon 
the same basis and model with his. 

It would be a gratification if we could recover 
the form of the covenant of the church used un- 
der the pastorate of Mr. Whiting. That, how- 
ever, seems to be beyond our reach. The copy 
which Mr. Lewis gives, as transcribed by him 
" from the leaf of a pocket Bible belonging to 
one of the ministers," is not, what he calls it, the 
original covenant, for two reasons — first, that its 
being on the leaf of a Bible of an unnamed minister 
is no sufiicient evidence that it was used by the 
first minister. But the more conclusive reason is, 



50 THE LIFE OF MR. WHITING. 

it has a form attached to it to be used on the 
half-way covenant principle ; whereas the half- 
way covenant was unknown in New England 
till long after this church commenced ; and 
there is good reason for believing that it did not 
come into use here earlier than Mr. Henchman's 
time at the earliest. 



CHAPTER II. 

Influence op the Com3iemoeation of Ancestors. — 
Me. Whiting and the Courts on clashing Juris- 
dictions. — Life of Rev. Thomas Cobbett. 

In the first glances at the field of our history, 
we have seen a church planted, a noble vine 
wholly of the right seed. Never, in all the ex- 
pansions of Christianity in the world, was a 
church planted with a better original material. 
And it ought to subserve an important purpose 
to hold up to view the men whom God gave to 
be the first founders here. It was said of the 
ancient Scythians — a race of savages much like 
the American Indians — that when in their bat- 
tles they came to the graves of their dead fathers, 
they would there stand immovable, and die on 
the spot, rather than retreat. And ought not 
the graves or the revered memory of such fathers 
as these to inspire a resolution to stand fast in 
the faith, the order and the power of godliness, 
in which those fathers stood? In these days, 
when there has been such a broad defection 

(51) 



52 THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 

from Puritan principles and character, it would 
seem pertinent to show the graves of the dead 
fathers to their degenerate children, to rebuke 
their apostasies, and more especially when these 
same apostates pride themselves so much on their 
ancestry. Dwelling on the secular results which 
have come from the great Puritan enterprise, 
those farthest gone from those principles which 
made the Puritans what they were, are now 
ready to boast of a Puritan ancestry. They 
build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish 
the sepulchres of the righteous, and reflect not 
that they have gone over to the side of those 
who killed the prophets ; reflect not that their 
whole belief and life are in conflict with that 
which gave their fathers their renown. If for 
nothing else, it is pertinent to show such men 
the graves of their fathers, in order to show 
them how unlike their fathers they have become, 
and what dishonor they are doing to the mem- 
ory of such fathers. 

Suppose those men of sainted memory could 
come back to the scenes of their prayers and 
toils. Wliile their hearts would swell with rap- 
ture in view of the astonishing results which in 
two centuries God has brought from their enter- 



THE LIFE OP MR. COBBETT. 53 

prise, they would find in the wide and shocking 
degeneracy of men in whose veins flows their 
blood, and in whose names their own are repeat- 
ed, enough to restore the balance of humility in 
their minds. Most humiliating would be the 
fact that while wealth, and splendor, and a teem- 
ing population cover the ground from which 
their toil removed the forest, a clear majority 
of their children have become men of other 
principles and another spirit from themselves. 
And with what indignation would the shades of 
these men repel the incense which is burned to 
their names by a posterity that contemptuously 
treads under foot the principles which tliey held 
dearer than life, and for which they suffered the 
loss of all things ! It were worth the while to 
open the graves of the dead, and show what 
kind of men those fathers were, if for no other 
purpose, to show to so many of the living, who 
bless themselves in a Puritan ancestry, how little 
they have in common with their ancestors. 

We have given a sketch of Mr. Whiting ; we 
will here add one item. There was a passage 
between him and the county court, which pre- 
sents him to good advantage. The documents 
are given at large in Lewis's History. The facts 



54 THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 

are these. John Hathornc complained to the 
church that Andrew Mansfield and William 
Langley had perjured themselves, by giving 
false testimony before the court at Ipswich. 
These persons were tried by the church, and 
found guilty of perjury. They then procured 
an indictment for slander against Hathorne, in 
that he brought the charge of perjury before the 
church, making an act of discipline an indicta- 
ble offence ; and the court found him guilty upon 
that indictment. But before giving sentence, 
the court addressed a letter to the church, ex- 
pressing their grief that the civil and ecclesias- 
tical courts should give contrary judgments in 
the same case, and desiring the church to review 
their proceedings, and find cause to reverse 
them. To this letter, on behalf of the church, 
Mr. Whiting wrote a reply, which is admirable, 
both in its mild and Christian spirit, and in its 
clear and sound judgment of the merits of the 
case. He tells the court that if tlieir principle 
be carried out, there can be no discipline in the 
churches ; for if delinquents, when censured in 
churches, may get revenge by penalties from the 
courts, on actions of slander, the ecclesiastical 
authority is wholly subjected to the civil, and 



THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 55 

cliurcli discipline is impossible. The court an- 
swered the letter, disclaiming all purpose to 
interfere with church discipline, but declining 
to show how discipline could consist with such 
action ; and they sentenced the accused to pay 
a heavy fine. 

It was not wonderful that such questions of 
clashing jurisdictions should arise in a new com- 
munity, where all things were new, and where 
precedents and settled principles, guiding the 
separate and neutral action of a free church 
and a free commonwealth, were wanting. Now 
that the true principle on this subject has long 
since been settled, it is gratifying to see that our 
present laws fully sustain the ground assumed 
by Mr. Whiting — that legitimate church action 
is not fettered by the authority of the civil 
courts ; but that when a charge of immorality is 
brought into a church against an offending mem- 
ber for trial, and tried, neither the person bring- 
ing the charge, nor the church condemning the 
accused upon it, is liable to action before the 
civil courts. It now seems strange to us that 
the court did not see that their infliction of pen- 
alties for acts of church discipline went to de- 
feat the very purpose for which the church in 



56 THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 

tlie wilderness had come hither — to wit, the 
free exercise of their religious rights, and the 
rearing of a church on the model of the New 
Testament. 

We now proceed to sketch the life of Rev. 
Thomas Cobbett, for twenty years the colleague 
of Mr. Whiting. 

Mr. Cobbett was born at Newbury, England, 
in 1608, of poor parents ; but Providence, hav- 
ing a great work for him to do, opened for him 
the way to attain the qualifications to do it, as 
he has done in numberless instances of the kind. 
In nothing does God more illustrate his inde- 
pendence of human resources than in the way in 
which he calls and qualifies the instruments of 
his most difficult and honorable works from the 
humbler ranks in life, and appropriates to his 
own use the sometimes superior energies of body 
and mind that have been "cultivated in early years 
by conflicts with poverty. Yea, he claims it as 
his prerogative, when he will, to lift the poor 
from the dunghill, that he may set him among 
princes. Mr. Cobbett found means to secure an 
education at the University of Oxford. Being 
driven from thence by the plague before he had 
quite completed his course, he finished it under 



THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 57 

the private tuition of Dr. Twisse, who was after- 
wards the moderator of the famous Westmin- 
ster Assembly, and who was one of the greatest 
scholars of his age. Mr. Cobbett commenced 
preaching in England, but was soon compelled to 
flee for safety from persecution to New England. 
He came over in the same vessel with Mr. Daven- 
port, of New Haven. 

"When he arrived, Mr. Whiting, impelled by a 
previous friendship, secured his settlement with 
himself, as co-pastor of the church in Lynn ; and 
with what cordiality the cooperation continued 
for twenty years we have seen. During those 
twenty years, great changes were made upon 
the face of the forest here, and doubtless great 
progress in fixing a settled character of truth 
and godliness in the church, which in that time 
must have sensibly grown by additions of their 
own children. But greater changes had taken 
place in the mother country. The monarchy 
had gone out, and the commonwealth had come 
in. And these exiles sympathized in those won- 
derful events no less than their countrymen at 
home. Indeed, they had great occasion ; for 
they saw in them the triumph of their own prin- 
ciples, the achievement on English soil of the 



58 THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 

liberty for whicli they had suffered the loss of 
all things ; and one of the many books which 
our Cobbett published was one written with 
reference to the principles then in contest — a 
work on toleration, defining the duties of the 
civil magistrate in relation to religious liberty. 
This was dedicated to Cromwell. To it was 
appended a defence of the New England gov- 
ernment against the charge of persecution. 

It is a noticeable fact, that Mr. Cobbett was 
one of the most, if not the most voluminous 
author of his day in New England, and also 
the most that Lynn to this time can boast of. 
Mather calls him one of the principal scribes of 
New England, who wrote more books than most 
of the divines which did their part to make a 
Kirjath Sepher — a city of letters — of this wil- 
derness ; in every one of which he proved liim- 
self a scribe well instructed. And he brought 
forth instruction from a rich treasure. The 
story of his life might be well made out by an 
account of his books. A writer of books at 
that day must have been impelled by strong mo- 
tives, considering the obstructions in the way 
of their publication. There was no printing 
office in the colony. All books must be sent 



THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 59 

over to London to be published ; and tlicn for a 
part of the time there was a censorship upon the 
press, which subjected authors to the caprices 
of a bishop's chaplain, besides the ordinary dif- 
ficulties of finding a publisher. To show the 
delays attending such publications, one of Mr. 
Cobbett's works was written and completed in 
the year 1G53, and its publication bears date of 
1657. These four years between the completion 
of the writing and the publication would cool 
the ardor of most authors. 

Yet, with these impediments, Mr. Cobbett 
abounded in published works. One of these, 
which has been as much praised as any, was a 
work on infant baptism. Among the first plant- 
ers of this colony there was here and there one 
who had sympathies, more or less, with the Ana- 
baptists in England, though it was much later 
than this before the Baptist denomination made 
any considerable progress in this colony. But 
it seems as early as Mr. Cobbett's time some 
efforts were made by individuals to spread that 
doctrine among his people. The work which he 
published to counteract the leaven we have not 
been able to obtain ; but of it the renowned 
John Cotton speaks in these terms : — 



60 THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 

" Cobbett, when he saw that some of Christ's 
sheep committed to him were caught in the 
snares and brambles of antipedobaptism, in- 
flamed with zeal for God, and moved with 
Christ's compassion towards erring* disciples, 
collected what books he could of the antipedo- 
baptists, and weighed their arguments in the 
balances of the sanctuary. He carefully exam- 
ined cart loads of their productions, and seizing 
on the arguments by which they had their suc- 
cess, with great acumen, sagacity, and labor, he 
left nothing untouched that could contribute to 
illustrate the truth, and disperse the clouds of 
error." 

Of this testimony Mather says, " Such com- 
mendation from so reverend and renowned a 
pen is to have one's life sufficiently written." 

There is one thing that deserves to be noticed 
here ; that is, that the religious life which was 
developed by these Puritan fathers attached 
great importance to the covenant which, be- 
tween God and man, pledged the godly training 
and salvation of children. And of our first 
pastors in Lynn, historians testify of the one 
that "he conducted the worship of his family 
like a true child of Abram ; " and of the other, 



THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 61 

that he ably and successfully discussed the whole 
subject, and delivered from the brambles those 
of his people who had been entangled in them. 
And we shall sooner or later learn that one of 
the causes of the depressed tone of life in our 
churches now is the less regard which prevails 
in them for the Abrahamic covenant. Their 
treatment of this subject differed in one respect 
essentially from ours. They made the fact that 
there was a sprinkling among them of men 
who scrupled the practice of infant baptism, 
such as Williams, Chauncy, and Oakes, a reason 
for its thorough discussion and more earnest 
profession. The more it was called in question, 
the more they adhered to it. They saw that 
the life and force of their churches were identi- 
fied with it, and would as soon have surrendered 
their whole profession as that. But in modern 
times, the opposition to it is made an occasion 
of a less bold profession and practice of it — a 
habit and inclination of the public mind which 
is fraught with incalculable mischief. 

But there is one book of Mr. Cobbett's, which, 
if he had written no others, would have entitled 
him to stand in the first rank of authors on prac- 
tical and experimental religion. It is entitled 
6 



62 THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 

"A Practical Discourse of Prayer, wherein is 
handled the Duty, the Qualifications of Prayer 
— the several Sorts of Prayer, as ejaculatory, 
private, public, and secret Prayer," by Thomas 
Cobbett, minister of the word, at Lynn, New 
England. Printed at London, 1657. This book 
is now in process of republication by the Con- 
gregational Board of Publication. It bears on 
the face of it, as the reader will see when it 
comes forth, the proof that it comes of the 
opening of a treasury of a soul that has had 
large and rich experience in prayer. There is 
about it a remarkable unction, fervor, and force. 
There is a lucid and logical arrangement of the 
materials, a great compactness and condensation 
of thought ; the intricate and difficult points 
are illumined by a mind deeply experienced in 
prayer, and richly stored with divine truth. 
The thoughts come out all warm and glowing, 
from a heart deeply moved by the Spirit of God. 
We have no book on the same subjects, now in 
the course of general reading, which can com- 
pare with it. And it ouglit to be republished, 
and placed in every Christian family. 

Nor am I alone in this high estimation. I was 
induced to take the pains to find a copy of it, by 



THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 63 

Cotton Mather's high encomiums of it. He says, 
that " of all the Looks written by Cobbett, none 
deserves more to be read by the world, and to 
live till the general burning of the world, than 
that on prayer. He was himself eminently a 
man of prayer. His prayers were not more ob- 
servable, throughout New England, for the argu- 
mentative, the importunate, and, I had almost 
said, filially familiar strains of them, than for 
the wonderful success that attended them. Our 
Cobbett was ever pulling at that golden chain, 
the one end of which is tied to the tongue of 
man, and the other to the ear of God ; and he 
often pulled to marvellous purpose." 

'' A son of this man of prayer," says Mather, 
" was taken by the Indians, with little expecta- 
tion of his ever being recovered. Whereupon 
Mr. Cobbett called about thirty of the Chris- 
tians of the neighborhood to his house, and there 
they prayed together for the young man's deliv- 
erance. The old man's heart was now no more 
sad. He believed that the prayers would be 
answered, and fully declared his conviction. 
Within a few days the young man returned to 
his father, under circumstances little short of 
a. miracle." The facts are given more at 



64 THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 

length, ill a letter of Mr. Cobbett to Increase 
Mather. 

This son of Mr. Cobbett was Thomas Cob- 
bett, Jr., then a seaman at Portsmouth. He was 
taken by the Indians and carried to Penobscot, 
and was kept by them nine weeks. Meanwhile 
prayer was made for him in the church of God 
without ceasing — in Mr. Moody's congregation 
in Portsmouth, in Mr. Shepard's in Charlestown, 
in the churches in Boston, and many others. 
When Mr. Moody first sent the information to 
Lynn of the capture of the young man, Mr. 
Cobbett caused one of the deacons at once to 
call into his house as many of the praying people 
as could be easily collected. About thirty-six 
met and prayed through several hours. Mr. Cob- 
bett began and ended the service. He had, at 
the same time, a son sick at home ; and they 
prayed that that son might recover, and that his 
recovery might be to them a pledge of the deliv- 
erance of the other. Mr. Cobbett said, " I was 
sweetly guided in the course of that service, 
and was even persuaded that the Lord had heard 
our prayers, and could not but express as much 
to some of our godly friends." His sick son be- 
gan to amend at once. 



THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 65 

Mather says, the instances of surprising ef- 
fects following this man's prayers were so many, 
that they cannot be given in detail. It was 
generally supposed that the enemies of New 
England owed their wondrous disasters as much 
to his prayers, as to any other cause. As Knox's 
prayers were sometimes more feared than an 
army of ten thousand men, so Cobbett's prayers 
were esteemed of no little significancy to the 
welfare of the country. But Cobbett was not 
alone among his compeers as a man of prayer. 
The biographies given of a large proportion of 
the first New England ministers describe their 
remarkable gifts or power in prayer. 

Of Mr. Norton, first a minister at Ipswich, 
and afterwards minister in Boston, it was said, 
that it even transported the souls of his hearers 
to accompany him in his devotions. A godly 
man of Ipswich, after his removal to Boston, 
was in a habit of travelling on foot about 
thirty miles, to attend the weekly lecture, and 
would profess that it was worth a great journey 
to be a partaker in one of Mr. Norton's prayers. 
This incident, related by Mather, the History of 
Lynn, by an unaccountable mistake, attributes to 
6* 



66 THE LIFE OF MR. COBCETT. 

Mr. Cobbett, as though he was in a habit of 
making those pedestrian tours. 

Of Mr. AVilson, of Boston, at whose instance 
Mr. Norton's removal to Boston had been pro- 
cured, it was said that his faith, in connection 
with answers to prayer, had become proverbial. 
While Mr. Norton's removal was in debate, some 
one said to Mr. Rogers that he feared Mr. Wil- 
son's arguments would prevail to secure his 
removal. Mr. Rogers replied, that he was more 
afraid of his faith than his arguments. Mr. 
Wilson's whole experience was full of memora- 
ble providences, connected with his prayers. An 
Indian had seized an English girl, and was car- 
rying her off in a canoe, rowing very swiftly. 
The soldiers feared to fire upon him, lest they 
should kill the girl. They asked Mr. Wilson 
what to do ; he lifted his heart to God in prayer, 
and told them to fear not to fire, for God will 
direct the aim. It was done ; the Indian was 
killed, and the girl unharmed. This is but a 
specimen of countless occurrences of his life. 

Hooker, the first minister of Cambridge, and 
afterwards of Hartford, had similar experiences. 
When he fled from the officers sent to arrest 
him, to take ship for Holland, and had barely 



THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 67 

time to reach the ship, a friend inquired, " What 
if the wind should not be fair when you arrive ? " 
He replied, "Leave that with Him who keeps 
the winds in the hollow of his hand." The 
wind was opposite till he went on board, then 
shifted at once, and aided his escape. Being 
himself eminently a man of prayer, he taught 
that prayer was the principal of a minister's 
work, and that it was by this that he was to 
carry on the rest, and that such extraordinary 
favors as the life of religion and the power of 
godliness must be preserved by extraordinary 
efforts at prayer and fasting. But in prayer he 
would have strength rather than length. There 
was a battle to be fought between the Mohegan 
Indians, the friends of the English, and the Nar- 
ragansetts, who were plotting their destruction. 
On this occasion, Mr. Hooker interceded for the 
Mohegans, and used as an argument the promise, 
"I will bless him that blesseth thee," and his 
prayer prevailed. 

Of Jonathan Burr, a minister in Dorchester, 
accounts are given that show that prayer was 
the leading business and purpose of his every- 
day life. 

Thomas Shepard's journal, after his death, 



68 THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 

Bliowed a life devoted to prayer, being full of 
remarkable passages between himself and God. 
It was lie who said, " God will curse that man's 
labors that lumbers up and down all the week 
in the world, and then on Saturday afternoon 
goes into his study, when, God knows, that 
time were little enough to pray in, and weep 
in, and get his heart in a fit frame for the Sab- 
bath." 

We have not room for other examples, such 
as that of Cotton and Eliot, and many others 
no less distinguished as wrestlers with God. 
We give these as illustrations of the temper of 
those men whom God chose to do for him that 
great work upon our foundations. And we do 
it also to reveal the secret of the power which 
they exerted, and the wonderful success which 
crowned their toils. Here was the secret spring 
of that force which made Puritanism lay so 
strong a hand upon the world. 

It was a distinguished favor to this church 
that its foundations were laid by such men as 
Whiting and Cobbett. If their character may 
indicate any thing of the character of the 
church — and how could such men labor so long 
without impressing their character on the church, 



THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 69 

if they had nothing of it before ? — then was this 
church planted a noble vine. Its foundations 
were laid in such prayers as we have described 
— prayers that may live and prevail for centu- 
ries after the hearts that swelled in their utter- 
ance have mouldered in the dust. 

Would that our own hearts could come into 
closer sympathy with those our first men and 
first minisliers. And it is well to investigate 
their history, that wo may know them better 
and catch more of their spirit. When our ad- 
miration kindles upon them, there is a quickening 
and assimilating power in that admiration. 
And it is well to hold the mind in as near con- 
tact with them as we can. It is well to make 
it real to our habitual thoughts, at how many 
points we are identified with them — that what 
was their work, in the rearing of this church, 
is now our work; that our spiritual life flows 
in channels which they opened ; that our places 
of abode were first occupied by them ; that the 
ground which we tread was pressed by their 
feet, the air which we breathe bore the sound 
of their supplications and their songs to heaven ; 
that the features of the natural scenery around 
us were familiar to their eyes ; that while in 



70 THE LIFE OP MR. COBBETT. 

study, labor, or meditation, while in tlieir 
morning and evening walks, they looked out 
upon those highlands, upon that " High Rock," 
upon that Nahant, upon that splendid beach, 
and that vast expanse of waters. Thus from one 
and the same book of nature they and we have 
read of the beauty and majesty of the Creator's 
works, just as we have read from the same gos- 
pel the same way of life and salvation, and 
from the same fountain of life have been made 
to drink into one spirit with them. 

Yea, in our national characteristics, and modes 
of civilization, we are essentially one with them ; 
and the improvements which we have made, set- 
ting us at a distance from them, are improve- 
ments made upon their models, and in the light 
which they had kindled. In those things in 
which we differ from other nations — our lan- 
guage, our idioms of thought and feeling, our 
arts and habits of life, our social structure and 
institutions — we are either one with them, or 
drawing from them as our spring. As one life 
pervades the root and the branches of a tree, so 
our life, civil, social, and spiritual, is one with 
theirs. 

Those men were conscious that they were lay- 



THE LIFE DP MR. COBBETT. 71 

ing the foundations of many generations. Read 
their writings, listen to all their intercommuni- 
cations of their plans and purposes, and you 
will see that they lived mainly for their pos- 
terity, and for a glorious future. The toils 
which they endured on this ground might have 
been avoided, if they sought only their own sal- 
vation. Nay, the force of their labor and the 
energy of their prayers were spent that there 
might be a perpetuation of life and fruitfulness 
in the vine which they were planting and nur- 
turing ; that many generations might sit under 
its shadow, and partake of its fruits with great 
delight. And who knows that the wonderful 
preservation of this church from extinction, for 
that whole century, when she had so many more 
chances of death than life, was not owing to 
the prayers of its founders ? If those men did 
not succeed to impress any thing of their char- 
acter on children's children to remotest times, 
they singularly failed of their purpose. "We 
have now a rich legacy in the prayers — the 
yet unanswered prayers — which they uttered 
while planting and watering here. "Who can 
say that that cause which kept this church 



72 THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 

from sinking wholly, when she was so nearly 
under water, will not hereafter operate to a 
large expansion of your prosperity ? The church 
sent forth by the immortal Robinson, and watched 
over on the heath of Plymouth by the devoted 
Brewster ; the church that broke ground in 
Salem, under Higginson and Skelton ; the 
church which Wilson conducted to Boston, and 
the church which the name of Cotton illus- 
trated, — these and many others, around which 
hallowed recollections cluster, have gone to the 
ranks of those that deny the Lord that bought 
them ; while this, for a long time as much ex- 
posed, now stands united in the profession of 
Puritan principles. 

Those sainted men have labored, and we have 
entered into their labors — deriving precious 
advantages from their toils and tears. These 
advantages bring with them important obliga- 
tions — obligations resting on us to take up and 
carry on their work. We have the same con- 
flict which they had to sustain, though in a 
different form. The same principles of the gos- 
pel, requiring evangelical and vital godliness, 
are now beset with a host, though with differ- 



THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 73 

ent arms and tactics, xind by all that is sacred 
and stirring in tlieir names and miglity deeds, 
we are impelled to imitate their holy zeal, valor, 
and power of intercession with God. 

And, as they had a future before them, loom- 
ing in the prospect with thrilling grandeur, so 
have we. We sec how their prayers and la- 
bors touched the springs of immense and ever- 
expanding influence. And if we copy their 
godliness, and their power with God, those who 
come after us may see and say the same of us. 
The call for Christian heroes, though in another 
manner, is now as loud as it was then. The 
opportunity to spread our power for good over 
the ages to come is now as great as then. And 
the obligations coming directly from God press 
as heavily upon us as upon them. And in some 
sense their destiny is not complete except as it 
completes itself in the worthy conduct of us 
their children. "These all, having obtained a 
good report through faith, received not the 
promise ; God having provided some better 
thing for us, that they without us should not be 
made perfect. Wherefore, seeing we also are 
compassed about with so great a cloud of wit- 
7 



74 THE LIFE OF MR. COBBETT. 

nesses, let us lay aside every weiglit, and the sin 
wliicli dotli so easily beset us, and let ns run 
with patience the race that is set before us, look- 
ing unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our 
faith." 



CHAPTER III. 

Evanescence op earthlt Fame. — Life op Rev. Jer- 
emiah Shepard. — Puritan Church Architecture. 
— The "Tunnel" Meeting House. — Origin op the 
Quakers. — Origin op Ltnnfield Parish. — General 
Prosperity op Shepard's Ministry. 

We have given a skctcli of tlie lives of tliat 
" didce par fratrum '^ wliicli held the first pasto- 
rate of this church, and labored and prayed so 
long for its establishment and growth, with a 
harmony more than earthly. The meagreness of 
that sketch may teach us how vain it is, not only 
to lay up treasures on earth, but also to seek to 
biiild a monument, or to perpetuate for ourselves 
a fame on earth. Those were great times, and 
great men that lived and wrought in those times. 
But how little of what was done on this soil 
during the forty years of that pastorate can be 
now recalled from oblivion! Those ministers, 
and the Christians that sustained and cooperated 
with them here, lived to a great purpose ; and 
not one thing which they did is forgotten before 
God. Could all be rehearsed now, as it will be 

(75) 



76 THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 

rehearsed in the great day, it would present 
before you the image of those men shining as 
the sun in the kingdom of their Father. And 
yet the fact that it is the way of this world to 
let such memorials of the great and good perish 
from the earth, so that the few relics of their 
memory which we have gathered are all that we 
can gather, when we so much desire more, should 
teach us the vanity of all efforts to make an 
abiding impress of ourselves on this world. If 
such an impress is made, it is made on a fluid 
mass, on a generation hastening like a flowing 
stream, to be lost in the ocean of eternity. It 
is like letters in the sand, soon to be swept by 
winds or waves. 

In this case the loss is ours, and not that of 
the worthies with whom we vainly seek a better 
acquaintance. They are still to be had in ever- 
lasting remembrance. A glorious commemora- 
tion of their labors and fruits of labor awaits 
the day of the manifestation of the sons of God. 
Then their history will be written and read in a 
manner that is worthy of them. Meanwhile, 
our effort made in vain to get full materials of 
their history may admonish us how little the 
world will know of us, and what a narrow space 



THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 77 

our names and lives will fill in the recollections 
of men on earth, in a few years after we shall 
have left the scene. Our death, when it comes, 
will make scarce a ripple on the surface of the 
common mind. And soon earth will have for- 
gotten that she bore us on her bosom. Let, then, 
earth's remembrances be estimated only for what 
they are worth, while we seek that honor which 
comes from God only, having higher reasons for 
all the good we attempt on earth — the reason 
that it is so much done for Christ, to be remem- 
bered and rewarded by him. 

The second in the series of pastorates of this 
church was filled by Rev. Jeremiah Shepard, 
commencing in the year 1679. His father, Rev. 
Thomas Shepard, of Cambridge, was one of the 
most effective preachers of the Puritan age ; and 
the motive for establishing the college at Cam- 
bridge was, that the students might be under liis 
ministry. He died in middle life, and while his 
son Jeremiah was an infant. Jeremiah was the 
son of his third wife, to whom he had been mar- 
ried but a short time, and who afterwards mar- 
ried Mr. Mitchel, the successor of Mr. Shepard 
in the ministry at Cambridge — a man of like 
spirit with him ; so that our Shepard had his 
7* 



78 THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 

training and education wholly under Mr. Mitchel. 
As Mr. Shepard and Mr. Mitchel attached great 
importance to the Abrahamic covenant, so their 
family felt its influence. He was remarkably 
blessed in the character of his children. He 
had three sons, all of whom were ministers. Of 
the two elder Mather gives a particular account ; 
but he says nothing of the youngest, that is, of 
Jeremiah ; for he was living when Mather wrote. 
His oldest son, Thomas, was settled in Charles- 
town, and died there in middle life. The small 
pox was raging in the town. He felt it to be 
his duty to visit one of his people who was dying 
with it. Conscious of his danger, he took his 
life in his hand, and made the visit, and took the 
disease, and died. Such was the eminence of 
his standing in the ministry, and such the man- 
ner of his death, that it created an almost unpar- 
alleled sensation throughout New England. His 
second son, Samuel Shepard, was pastor of the 
church in Rowley, where he died at the age of 
twenty-six — eleven years before his brother 
Jeremiah was settled in Lynn. He was an ex- 
cellent preacher, and ardently beloved by his 
people. For one of his age, he had made rare 
attainments in communion with God. 



THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 79 

We have less information about Jeremiah 
Sliepard. We know tliat, like his brothers, he 
sprang from a noble stock ; and though his father 
had not the charge of his training, his stepfather 
■was hardly less distinguished for all the qualities 
that would insure a wise and godly education. 
Young Shepard graduated at Cambridge, at the 
age of twenty-one ; but ho did not enter the 
ministry till he was thirty-one. Then he was 
ordained pastor in Lynn. 

And here is the point where we have most oc- 
casion to regret the loss of the early records of 
the church. Down to this time we have some- 
thing of the history of the church in the brief 
biographies of her ministers, which the published 
histories had preserved. But when our Shepard 
had finished his course, the ministers of New 
England had become so numerous that it was 
not customary to make public records of the 
lives of all. I have gleaned from the town rec- 
ords all the allusions to him and his work which 
there appear ; and these, by reason of a loss of 
records of the town, do not extend back to the 
time of the commencement of his ministry. The 
town records clearly show that his relations 
with his people, from first to last, were harmoni- 



80 THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 

Oils ; and that, by tlie way, is one reason why the 
materials for writing his history are so scarce. 
It is wars and strifes, whether in churches or 
states, that most rapidly accumulate materials 
for the historian. 

We have the means of knowing what were 
the doctrines which he preached, and something 
of his talents and manner as a preacher, in some 
printed sermons of his now extant in the library 
of the Old South Church in Boston. His doc- 
trines were Calvinistic, after the type of those 
of his father and of the Puritan founders. These 
sermons show him to be an earnest preacher, 
and specially careful to distinguish between true 
and false conversions ; and they give all the evi- 
dence that sermons can give that their author 
was a true minister, possessed of a really regen- 
erate character. 

He was ordained and commenced his ministry 
here in the first tabernacle, in the rude sanctuary 
that was built by the first fathers of the town. 
For three years he preached in the same house 
that had been illumined by the ministry of those 
precious men, Cobbett and Whiting ; and though 
the house, which, from the peculiarity of its 
structure, — having its bell tower set on the cen- 



THE MINISTRY OP MR. SHEPARD. 81 

tre of its square roof, — was nicknamed tlie Tun- 
ne!, was in the matter of architecture probably a 
decided advance upon it, yet it could not be 
said that the glory of the latter house was 
greater than that of the former. There must 
have been, at the time of Mr. Shepard's settle- 
ment here, a large society compared with its 
earlier years, though its numbers were small 
compared with those of later times, and scat- 
tered over a large surface, embracing Saugus 
and Lynnfield. The erection of the Tunnel 
meeting house, in 1682, must have been no tri- 
fling event for Lynn in those times. Though in 
its old age it was not admired for its architec- 
tural taste, or its magnificence, yet, considering 
the penury of the times, it did honor to the peo- 
ple that reared it. It showed that in the early 
days of Mr. Shepard's ministry there were energy 
and public spirit in the society, resulting from 
the sound doctrine which till that time had been 
maintained. And it is worthy of a passing re- 
mark, that notwithstanding a false doctrine so 
long occupied the pulpits of this church — that 
is, within three years of a century — it never 
built a pulpit or a meeting house. It did so 



82 THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 

much to impoverisli and dilapidate its outward 
condition, but little to improve it. 

It is well known that the first planters here, 
■while under the privations of a life in the wil- 
derness, did not emulate the splendor nor style 
of English cathedrals. They had good reasons 
for rejecting the style of church building that 
Popery had bequeathed to England, and that 
still contributed to keep alive in the popular 
mind a taste for Popish things. The nature and 
spirit of their religion differed enough from that 
which had driven them out to beget a different 
style of church building. The house should be 
built so as best to fit the uses to which it was 
to be put. If the house was to be used by a 
teaching ministry, it should be built so as to be 
most convenient for teaching and hearing the 
gospel, and impressing the mind with the sim- 
plicity that is in Christ ; but if it is built to ac- 
commodate a religion that appeals to the imagi- 
nation through pompous rites and ceremonies, 
then it needs as much and as specific architectu- 
ral fitness to the scenes to be enacted in it as 
the theatre does for the scenes to be enacted in 
it. For this kind of religion, relying not on a 



THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 83 

preached gospel, but on the impressiveness of 
its shows, its pomps, and ceremonies, the Gothic 
structure, with stained glass, obstructing and 
discoloring the light of heaven about in tho 
same proportion that its ministry discolors the 
light of the gospel, is well adapted. What is 
called the dim religious light in such a house 
answers well to a religion that lives more in 
the twilight than in the open day, and has its fit 
appendages in the gorgeous vestments of its 
priesthood. But for a church whose ministry is 
one of truth and light, such architectural arrange- 
ments are most unfit, "because all minds are more 
or less susceptible of impressions from the sce- 
nery around them ; and imaginative minds, espe- 
cially those of the young, are liable, when wor- 
shipping in such houses, to take impressions in 
favor of a pompous religion, and acquire tenden- 
cies towards Romanism. 

Our fathers were aware of these weaknesses 
of human nature — were well acquainted with 
Romanism and its causes, and were not ignorant 
of Satan's devices ; and it was a point of great 
interest with them to keep clear of every thing 
that would foster tendencies to Eomanism, or 
its half-way house, that is, the house of bondage 



84 THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 

out of which they came. It is very true that 
they made their protest against the Romish style 
of architecture more graphic than was needful, 
when they reared structures the like of which 
did not exist in heaven or earth, or such as that 
Tunnel. But it is no disparagement to say, that 
with all their other gettings, they had not ac- 
quired a cultivated taste in architecture — that 
they were more profound in the truths of salva- 
tion than they were conversant with models and 
standards of taste in building. Something must 
be pardoned to the vagaries of an untaught 
fancy ; and possibly there might have lurked 
under the oddities of some of their architectural 
plans something of sarcasm, or something of the 
intent with which they sometimes surmounted 
the steeple with a*cock instead of a cross, to 
indicate, not the profession of the primacy of St. 
Peter, but the admonition to Peter that he had 
denied his Mast or. But we may pardon what 
was grotesque in those buildings, in view of the 
important practical principle to which their 
builders aimed. They sought to exclude a 
superstitious reverence from being attached to 
boards and shingles, and brick and mortar ; 
and if they built houses that were not a likeness 



THE MINISTRY OP MR. SIIEPARD. 85 

of any thing in heaven or earth, they kept at so 
much greater distance from violating the second 
commandment ; for the church out of which they 
had come approximated to a breach of that com- 
mandment, in attaching a superstitious reverence 
to the brick and mortar, or boards and shingles, 
of their consecrated houses. And when our 
fathers built such houses, they made it plain that 
they were not building houses to worship, but 
only houses to worship in. They caused it to 
be clearly understood that those structures were 
not objects of reverence, but convenient places 
for teaching religion and worshipping God, and 
having no sacredness different in kind from the 
chamber whither the good man resorts for his 
daily closet worship. And most effectually did 
th6y guard against their meeting houses serving 
as lures to Popery, or stepping stones to a reli- 
gion of pompous rites. 

When the meeting house to which we refer 
was built, the church had been in existence here 
fifty years ; and though the society must have 
been numerous, — second on the scale of num- 
bers in the whole colony, — its aggregate ability 
could not have been large. With the ideas 
which we attach to the force of our towns, we 
8 



86 THE MINISTRY OP MR. SHEPARD. 

can hardly realize how feeble were the hands 
that laid the foundations here. Eight years 
after this church commenced, and two years 
after its first pastor was settled, there were in 
all the colonies of New England only four thou- 
sand people — a little more than a quarter as 
many as the present inhabitants of Lynn ; and 
for the next twenty years, because the Puritan 
cause was in the ascendency in England, the 
Puritans had no cause to emigrate to this wil- 
derness. For that time, more persons went from 
here to England than came from England hither ; 
so that the population of Lynn, being confined 
to its increase by births for that time, must have 
been very small for the first thirty years. Over 
the territory now embraced in Lynn, Lynnfield, 
and Saugus, there were scattered here and there 
a family, having their centre of attraction in 
the rude meeting house which stood on the 
north-east corner made by Shepard Street and 
Summer Street. Small in resources, they were 
strong in the faith of the gospel, and abundant 
in religious privileges, having the whole labors 
of two most learned and devoted ministers. 

In 1660, that is, nineteen years before Mr. 
Shepard's ministry commenced, the altered state 



THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 87 

of things in England effected an increase of im- 
migration ; and it would be natural to conclude 
that this town, being near the main port of in- 
gress, would receive strength from that source. 
Be that as it may, soon after Mr. Shepard's min- 
istry commenced, the first meeting house had be- 
come too strait for its occupants ; for its age 
could not have disqualified it for use. In build- 
ing the new house called the Tunnel, either from 
motives of economy, or other cause, the house 
was built without pews. Then, when an indi- 
vidual family preferred to have a pew of its 
own, separate from the common seats, which 
extended over the floor, it applied to the town 
for liberty to build a pew. This liberty was 
granted by vote of the town, to the effect that 
such a family might have liberty to build and oc- 
cupy a pew of such a size by the wall of the house, 
on condition of keeping the window in repair. 
The builder of the pew was restricted in nothing 
but the space he was to occupy. The style of 
building was left to his own fancy, and all vari- 
eties of taste had room for display in the matter. 
Nor were even the sizes of the pews the same. 
Some were large, and some small ; and the 
whole must have presented a rare spectacle. A 



88 THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 

considerable portion of town legislation, from 
year to year, in early times, consisted in grant- 
ing individual families permissions to build a 
pew in such a part of the house, of such and 
such dimensions, and under such and such con- 
ditions. After the tier of pews extended round 
the house, by the wall, permissions were given 
to build pews in the body of the house, begin- 
ning at the end opposite the pulpit, and gradu- 
ally extending forward, the temporary seats 
giving place to pews. The house was fifty feet 
long and forty-four wide. The best idea may 
be formed of its size from that of the Univer- 
salist Church on Commercial Street ; for the 
frame of that is the frame of the Tunnel, en- 
larged. The frame of the Tunnel was moved 
from the common to that site without being 
taken down. Some years after its removal, it 
was enlarged by the addition of ten or fifteen 
feet to its length. But as the Tunnel had galle- 
ries, it would probably seat many more people 
than that house will now. 

Ten years after the Tunnel was built, there 
were indications that the house was filled, and 
seats difficult to be had. The town voted that 
such and such persons might sit in the deacons' 



TIIE MINISTRY OP MR. SHEPARD. 89 

seat ; and afterwards, that such and such per- 
sons might sit in the pulpit, if they would keep 
the pulpit window in repair. The Tunnel meet- 
ing house did service one hundred and forty-five 
years, before it was removed and remodelled. 

It is very clear, from the records, that Mr. 
Shepard had a united congregation. For the 
forty-one years of his ministry, the records do 
not indicate that there was a single jar. At his 
settlement, his salary was fixed at eighty pounds, 
with the use of the parsonage lands, and the 
avails of a free contribution taken up once in a 
year. This contribution seemed to fill the place 
that is now filled in some congregations by dona- 
tion parties. It was in vogue here for more 
than a hundred years. But a salary of eighty 
pounds was an indeterminate quantity, as the 
value of the currency was constantly shifting. 
So there was another occasion besides the free 
contribution to indicate the varying temperature 
of the people's regard towards their minister. It 
was customary, at the annual meeting of the 
town every year, to vote on the sum that they 
were required to give their minister, to make his 
salary as good as the eighty pounds when he was 
settled. In after years the sum was most fre- 
8^ 



90 ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

quently ninety. But in one year it was only 
sixty. In one year there were indications of 
hard times. Mr. Shepard was by his consent 
elected the schoolmaster of the town, and al- 
lowed to serve the town in the double capacity 
of minister and school teacher. That year his 
salary was ninety pounds — no more than he had 
in many other years. It was doubtless so ar- 
ranged, as a matter of necessary economy for 
both parties. In another year he agreed to do 
the duties of a grammar school master, for as 
many months as the law required a grammar 
school to be kept, and to the extent of holding 
himself in readiness to teach all grammar schol- 
ars that should come to him. 

It was during the ministry of Mr. Shepard 
that the Society of Friends, or Quakers, had its 
main growth in Lynn, in which time most of the 
friction between that denomination and ours oc- 
curred. And this is the place for a brief sketch 
of the origin of the sect. A more particular 
account of the persecutions inflicted on them, 
furnished by a member of that society, will be 
reserved for the next chapter. 

In the year 1656, Mary Fisher and Ann Austin 
arrived at Boston, being the first of the Eng 



ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 91 

lish Quakers that visited this country ; though 
Cotton Mather tells us, that there were individ- 
ual instances of persons embracing the Quaker 
principles in Salem before that time. When 
these women arrived the magistrates ordered 
them to be detained on board the ship, and the 
books which they had brought with them for 
circulation to be seized. The captain of the 
vessel, Simon Kempthorn of Charlestown, was 
required speedily to transport them to Barba- 
does, whence they had come. Their books were 
burned, and themselves kept in close confinement, 
so as not to be able to communicate their opin- 
ions to any one till they were carried back. 

This Mary Fisher was a woman of mark. She 
had been imprisoned in England for speaking in 
a church. She had visited the University of 
Cambridge, and publicly addressed the students 
in the streets ; for which she was arrested by the 
mayor, and publicly whipped. Afterwards, for 
what she called a declaring of the truth in the 
" steeple house " of Pontcfract, she was impris- 
oned six months, and then three months more of 
imprisonment were added, because she expressed 
no repentance, and refused to give sureties for 
her good behavior. In the year 1655 she was 



92 ORIGIN OP QUAKERISM. 

again imprisoned some months for interrupting 
public worship. In that year she sailed for the 
Y/est Indies, from whence she came hither. In 
1660 she made a visit to the sultan, Mahomet 
TV., then at Adrianople. She was courteously 
received by his majesty, in his camp. But what 
results followed her mission we are not in- 
formed. After these adventures, Mary Fisher 
married and had children. 

But Ann Austin was advanced in years when 
she came hither on that mission ; and she was 
then the mother of five children. She returned 
to England, and was there again imprisoned for 
preaching. She died of the plague, at the time 
of what was called the great plague in London. 

Scarcely had the ship which bore away these 
two witnesses of the Quaker principles left the 
shore, when another vessel, having on board 
eight Quakers, arrived in Boston — to wit, 
Christopher Holden, John Copeland, Thomas 
Thurston, William Brand, Mary Prince, Sarah 
Gibbons, Mary "Wcatherhead, and Dorothy 
Waugh. Officers at once were sent on board 
to seize their books, and take their persons be- 
fore the court. In their examination a discus- 
sion took place between a minister of Boston 



m 

ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 93 



and the Quakers. After the examination the 
court required the prisoners to be confined till 
the ship in which they came^ould return, and 
to return in it. ' '^^ 

While these proceedings were taking place, 
Nicolas Upsal, a citizen of Boston, by his zeal in 
defence of the Quakers, was assumed to be iden- 
tified with them, and so was required to leave 
the colony. In a few months after, in 165T, 
Mary Dyer and Ann Burden arrived in Boston, 
from London. They were at once confined. 
Mary Dyer had a husband in Rhode Island, who 
was not a Quaker, who came and took her away, 
and the other was sent back to England. 

As ship owners were unwilling now to give a 
passage to Quakers from England, one of their 
number had built a small vessel, which he de- 
voted to their service, and eleven persons took 
passage in it for the voyage to New England. 
They arrived at New York, where a part of the 
company remained, and whence the rest went to 
Rhode Island. 

Two of the company, Christopher Holden and 
John Copeland, made their way through Plym- 
outh colony to Massachusetts. They went to 
Salem, held meetings, and made converts there. 



•r 



94 ORIGIN OP QUAKERISM. 

They entered the congregation and commenced a 
speech, but were not allowed to proceed. They 
were taken to Boston and examined, and se- 
verely punished by whipping. Another of the 
company, Eichard Doudney, afterwards came 
into the colony, and suffered in like manner. 
These we^fe banished. 

During these proceedings, the preachers of 
th(i Quaker doctrines were increasing. Individ- 
uals were constantly appearing here and there, 
in all the colonies ; and the vigilance and se- 
verity of the magistrates seemed to produce no 
results, but to increase the numbers of the inva- 
ders. But, unhappily, the magistrates did not 
learn from this, as they should have learned, 
that nothing was to be expected from another 
increase of severity, and that they were acting 
upon a false principle. Hence the General Court, 
at Boston, proceeded to pass a law of banish- 
ment on the Quakers, and forbidding their re- 
turn on pain of death. This law was passed by 
a majority of one, in the House of Representa- 
tives, and that in the absence of one who was 
opposed to it. This law was executed in the 
form of death in three instances. 

William Robinson, who had been some time in 



ORIGIN OP QUAKERISM. 95 

Virginia, and Marmadnke Stevenson, recently 
from Barbadoes, met in Rhode Island, and felt 
themselves called upon to risk their lives to test 
the Massachusetts law. They arrived in Boston 
on Fast day, and entered the congregation, and 
commenced an address. This was bearding the 
lion in his den. The indignation of the magis- 
trates was aroused. They were at once impris- 
oned. After examination by the magistrates, 
they were punished with whipping, and ordered 
not to appear in the colony again on pain of 
death. In this sentence of banishment, Mary 
Dyer, who had come hither from Rhode Island, 
was included. Robinson and Stevenson deter- 
mined to remain in the colony ; and Mary Dyer, 
for the present, returned to Rhode Island. The 
former proceeded to Salem, where they held a 
meeting in the woods ; and the fact of their be- 
ing under sentence of death brought great 
crowds to hear them. They then went as far 
east as Portsmouth. While they were on their 
eastern journey, Mary Dyer returned to Boston, 
where she was soon recognized and arrested. 
In a few days, Stevenson and Robinson re- 
turned to Boston. They came, as their writers 
testify, " to look the bloody laws in the face." 



96 ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

They had spent about a month in preaching, 
with the sentence of death suspended over them. 
Having done this, they said they went under " a 
divine call to lay down their lives." They were 
at once arrested. The rulers had now in cus- 
tody three persons who had forfeited their lives 
under the statute, and who were virtually chal- 
lenging them to take them if they dared. There 
was now no escape from the alternative of an 
execution or an abandonment of that law. The 
prisoners were brought before the magistrates, 
and questioned why they returned ; and they 
said, " In obedience to a divine call." Sentence 
was first passed on Robinson, then on Stevenson, 
and then on Mary Dyer. In a week after this 
the sentence was executed on the two men, and 
the woman was reprieved after the men were 
executed. She was ordered to go with a guard 
fifteen miles, in the direction of Rhode Island. 
Declining the guard, she returned home of her 
own accord. But she soon again conceived her- 
self to have a divine call to return to Boston, 
where she arrived in 1660, Yet, for ten days 
after her arrival, no attempt was made to arrest 
her. She was finally brought before the court. 
Governor Endicott pronounced the sentence 



ORIGIN OP QUAKERISM. 97 

iipon her, and slie replied, " This is no more than 
thou saidst before." While she \Yas now under 
sentence, her husband (not a Quaker) wrote to 
the governor, interceding for her life. lie calls 
her zeal, which had exposed her life, an " incon- 
siderate madness ; " and that idea should have 
prevailed for her release ; but it did not. She 
was led to the gallows the next day after her 
condemnation. There she was told that if she 
would go home, she might come down, and save 
her life. But she refused, and was executed. 
She had been previously distinguished in the 
history of New England. Twenty years before 
this she had been the companion of the famous 
Mrs. Hutchinson, the leader of the Antinomians. 
She and her husband had been expelled at that 
time, and settled in Rhode Island. Her husband 
was one of the eighteen that formed the body 
politic of that colony, and he was secretary of 
the colony. 

The severity of these proceedings created a 
revulsion of feeling with the people, by which a 
mitigation of the rigors of the laws was secured. 
Our own views of these persecutions will be 
given in the next chapter : we have intended 
here only a sketch of the facts, and in this, in 




98 THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 

order to be sure of doing justice to the Quakers, 
we liave followed their authorities, which leave 
out some things which are very material to the 
Puritan view of it. 

It was not till after these conflicts of the gov- 
ernment with the Quakers that the church in 
Lynn came into conflict with them. The precise 
dates of their beginnings here will be given by 
the Quakers themselves, in the next chapter. 
Sufi&ce it here to say, that the friction between 
theirs and ours had some small beginnings in 
Mr. Whiting's pastorate. But it was most con- 
siderable in the time of Mr. Shepard. He came 
into active conflict, as will be seen ; and in 
one instance he and his people observed a day 
of special prayer and fasting, in view of the 
alarming spread of Quaker principles among 
them. This conflict extended through the whole 
of Mr. Shepard's ministry. A year or two after 
the close of it, a compromise appears to have 
been effected, between the two interests, touch- 
ing the subject of taxation to support the min- 
istry, which was the main matter of irritation. 
In that compromise, the whole conflict seems to 
have terminated. 

It is difficult for a minister, in times of such 



THE MINISTRY OF MR. SIIEPARD. 99 

excitement, to be wise and successful in all his 
measures. But we are happy to find evidence 
that in his trials Mr. Shepard earnestly sought 
wisdom from above. This is indicated in his 
observance of a season of special fasting and 
prayer. And we have evidence that he did not 
seek in vain. His example, for its wisdom and 
success, became a matter of history. Mather 
(p. 566) recommends it as an example to be 
followed in other places, where similar troubles 
existed. Speaking of other means of defence, 
he says, — 

" After all, yea, before all, make the experi- 
ment which the good people of Lynn made, a 
little while ago, with a success truly observable 
and memorable. The Quakers made a more 
than ordinary descent upon the town of Lynn, 
and Quakerism suddenly spread there at such a 
rate as to alarm the neighborhood. The pastor 
of the church there indicated a day of prayer, 
with fasting, to implore the help of Heaven 
against the unaccountable enchantment, and the 
good people presented accordingly, July 19, 
1694, their fervent supplications to the Lord, 
that the spiritual plague might proceed no far- 
ther. The spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ gave 



100 THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 

a remarkable effect unto tins holy method of 
eucomitering the charms of Quakerism. It 
proved a better method than any coercion of 
the civil magistrate. [The progress of] Quaker- 
ism in Lynn received, as I am informed, a death 
wound from that very day ; and the number of 
Quakers in that place has been so far from in- 
creasing, that I am told it has rather decreased 
notably." 

It is clear, from the records of the parish, 
that in a few years after this, at least, the 
mutual friction between the two societies had 
ceased. 

Mr. Shepard's ministry was decidedly prosper- 
ous. Besides colonies that had gone from Lynn 
to people other townships, the church, in the latter 
part of his ministry, was able to colonize in the 
erection of another parish, in 1712. The town 
*' voted, that all that part of the town which lies 
northerly of the highway that leads from Salem 
to Reading be set off as a precinct ; and when 
they shall have a meeting house, and minister 
qualified according to law to preach the word 
of God amongst them, then they shall be wholly 
free from paying to the ministry of the town, and 
not before ; and if afterwards they shall cease 



THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 101 

to maintain a minister among them, they are to 
pay to the minister of the town as heretofore." 

These were the beginnings of Lynniield. Sev- 
eral years later the new parish petitioned to be 
set off as a town, or to be taxed for the support 
of both ministers, in a common tax of the town, 
both of which requests were denied. 

One indication of outward prosperity of the 
church at the close of Mr. Shepard's ministry, 
— and so far as that can go, an indication of 
internal thrift, — appears in that at that time 
was made to the church the gift, or rather several 
gifts, of the valuable service of silver plate. 
Making allowance for the much higher value of 
money at that time, this appears to us a splendid 
gift, and betokens the existence both of wealth 
and generosity then in the church. 

During Mr. Shepard's ministry of forty-one 
years many events of deep interest to minister 
and people occurred, and doubtless many which 
would be read with interest in after times, if 
their memory had been preserved. From a hand- 
ful of people, the congregation had become two 
bands. The usual results attending the gospel 
dispensation were here experienced. There were 
births into the church, and deaths from it ; scenes 



102 THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 

of rejoicing and scenes of mourning. There was 
a faithful ministry travailing in birth for the peo- 
ple, till Christ should be formed in them ; and, 
invisible to the eye, there were angels rejoicing 
over sinners repenting. There is clear evidence 
that Mr. Shepard lived in the affections of his 
people, and served them faithfully in the gospel, 
not shunning to declare all the counsel of God. 
Nor was he thrown aside by them in his old age, 
as we shall see in the sequel. Up to the time of 
his death, during pastorates that had brought 
the church's history down to the eighty-eighth 
year of its age, the relations of minister and 
people had been eminently happy. There had 
been no disaffections or divisions of the peo- 
ple, and no delinquencies or heresies of pas- 
tors. Except the comet-like luminary, or per- 
haps we should say the sundog, that attended 
the first rising of the church, which passed away 
with the vapors of its morning, and left no im- 
press of its character upon the church, all the 
ministers with whom this church had connection 
were worthy of her and blessings to her. 

And it is no small advantage to the church 
that her first ministers were models of all that is 
excellent in ministerial character, and that their 



THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 103 

people had a proportionate elevation of intelli- 
gence and Christian character. If all their suc- 
cessors had been men of like spirit, and had 
kept through the intermediate generations an 
open channel for their influence to be transmitted 
unimpaired to us, what advantages might we not 
have reaped from their labors ! As it is, it is 
not in vain that we buikl on foundations that 
such men have laid ; that they have labored, and 
we have entered into their labors ; that we 
guard the sacred fire on this altar, the flame of 
spiritual life which was first kindled here, by 
the fire descending from heaven upon their 
hearts, and that this fire, long depressed, has 
never been wholly extinct. And to those who 
doubt of the pure and noble tendencies of the 
doctrines which we profess, it is not in vain that 
we challenge their inspection of those tenden- 
cies on the men who perilled all earthly hopes 
for their preservation and propagation here. 

Having proceeded thus far in our history, we 
invite reflection on the ground which we have 
gone over for another purpose, and that is, to 
see what has been gained by all departures 
from Puritan principles and character. Ages 
distinguished for great improvements have passed 



104 THE MINISTRY OF MR. SHEPARD. 

away since those men went to heaven ; an era 
of improvement, which it was their mission to 
open, has developed grand results. But all these 
improvements have shown no way of making 
better men, or better Christians, than those. 
No principle, or set of jDrinciples, has been found 
that would produce a piety in better correspond- 
ence with that of Christ and his apostles, or 
bring the power of the gospel more effectually 
to bear upon the minds of men. Impelled by 
that aversion to truth which is a part of human 
depravity, many sects have split off from the 
Puritan stock, and each conceives a great im- 
provement in its own principles, as compared 
with that of our fathers. But in what does the 
improvement consist? Grant that your princi- 
ples better agree with the conceits of a proud 
mind, that has never bowed before the cross of 
Christ ; grant that they give greater license to 
the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and 
the pride of life ; grant that they frown less 
upon the genteeler vices, and open a seeming way 
to heaven for the whole race of worldlings and 
despisers of godliness, — do they make better men 
and better Christians, and do they produce bet- 
ter results on the world, more beneficially affect- 



THE MINISTRY OP MR. SIIEPARD. 105 

ing all tlic interests of time and eternity than 
these? Would they furnish more sure ground 
on which to stand in the hour of death ? If the 
tree is to be known by its fruits, if the character 
of a religion is to be tested by the character 
that it produces, we have only to ask. Where, in 
all the history of the world, will you find, in higher 
and more symmetrical development, all the ele- 
ments of godliness and the moral sublime, than 
in those Puritans whom we are allowed to call 
our fathers ? 



CHAPTER lY. 

Persecutions. — All Sections op the Church in- 
volved. — The Facts in the Case. — Persecutions 
op the Baptists. — Early History op the Lynn 
Quakers. — The Creed op the Quakers. — Exagger- 
ations ON both Sides. — Quakers also persecuted. 
— The Quakers' Divine Call. — The Facts and 
Principles that led to it. 

But the Puritan fathers persecuted the Bap- 
tists and the Quakers. And ought not this fact 
to silence every thing that can be said of their 
virtues ? If so, then no virtue existed, which had 
a title to commendation, from their time back 
to the first ages of the church. From the first 
dawn of the reformation till the planting of 
New England, no branch of the church, and 
none of the illustrious heroes of the church, had 
a better theory or practice of religious freedom 
than these Puritan fathers. And if they are to 
be condemned for this imperfection of their 
principles, the condemnation would take a fear- 
ful sweep, and involve most of the most honored 
names in Christian history. But before we con- 

(106) 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 107 

sider this question, let us ascertain the facts in 
the case. 

In the first place, how far was this church en- 
gaged in persecuting the Baptists ? Under this 
head I have been able to find no instances ex- 
cept those reported in Lewis's History of Lynn. 
The case of Lady Moody, there reported, be- 
longed to Salem. The only member of the 
Lynn congregation that came under persecu- 
tions was William Wittier, Li 1643 he was 
convicted by the court in Salem, " for having 
called our ordinance of God a badge of the 
Whore, and sentenced to acknowledge his fault, 
and to ask Mr. Cobbett's forgiveness in saying 
that he spoke against his conscience." Then, in 
1646, he was presented to the court again, for 
saying " that they who staid while the child is 
baptized worshipped the devil, and did take the 
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in 
vain." For this he was sentenced to make a 
public confession to the congregation, or answer 
it at the next General Court. 

In 1651 three men, Clark, Crandall, and 
Homes, came hither from Khode Island, and went 
to the house of Wittier at Swampscot, and re- 
baptized him. These strangers coming from 



108 THE ORIGIN OP QUAKERISM. 

Rhode Island to spread their tenets, roused the 
vigilance of the magistrates, who had them ar- 
rested and presented to the court in Boston, 
where they were sentenced to pay fines, one of 
thirty, one of twenty, and one of five pounds. 
One of these. Homes, refused to pay his fine, or 
allow his friends to pay it for him. For this lie 
was imprisoned more than a month, and then 
severely whipped. After this Wittier was again 
presented to the court in Salem, for neglecting 
public worship, and being rebaptizcd. But we 
are not told that any proceedings were had in 
the case. This, as far as I can learn, is the sum 
of what the fathers of the Lynn church did in a 
way of persecution of the Baptists. How far 
they persecuted the Quakers will be seen in the 
following sketch of the history of Quakerism in 
Lynn, which has been prepared, at my request, 
by Mr. Samuel Boice, one of the prominent mem- 
bers of the Lynn society. 

MR. BOICE'S STATEMENT. 

The Meeting of Friends in Lynn has always 
been a component part of Salem Monthly Meet- 
ing, which includes Boston, Salem, and Lynn. 

A few Friends came from England into this 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 100 

vicinity in the early years of the existence of 
the society. 

Mary Fisher and Ann Austin arrived in the 
territory then comprehended under the name of 
the Massachusetts colony, and landed at Boston, 
in 1656. This was about two years subsequent 
to the period at which it is known that Friends 
were residing within the precincts of Sandwich 
Monthly Meeting, then the " colony of Plym- 
outh." 

They were immediately imprisoned, upon the 
ground of a fear that they might introduce 
heretical doctrines into the colony ; and an or- 
der from the council held in Boston was issued 
for their trunks to be searched for any printed 
works they might have brought, and about one 
hundred iDOoks were taken from them, which 
were ordered to be burned and destroyed by the 
common executioner. 

The captain of the vessel in which they came 
was required to give bonds of one hundred 
pounds that he would transport them speedily 
to Barbadoes ; and after an imprisonment of 
nearly five weeks in the jail, they were con- 
veyed to Barbadoes in the vessel in which they 
came, the jailer taking their beds and their 
Bible for jail fees. 

In two days after their departure, eight other 
Friends, four men and four women, arrived in 
Boston, who were also committed to prison and 
banished. 

In regard to this interesting period, James 
Bowden, in his history of the rise of the society, 
has made the following remarks : — 

" The tyranny which marked the conduct of 

10 



110 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

the rulers of Massachusetts began to open the 
eyes of many of the settlers to the incongruity 
of the spirit which prompted such deeds with 
that of the benign religion of Jesus Christ. 

" Notwithstanding the earnest endeavors of the 
priests and rulers, by the stringent clauses of their 
act against the Quakers, to prevent the introduc- 
tion of their tenets, a desire was excited in the 
minds of not a few to acquaint themselves more 
intimately with the doctrines and practices of a 
sect whose presence it was deemed improper to 
allow among them ; and thus very soon a knowl- 
edge of Quaker doctrines was more or less 
spread abroad in all the New England colonies." 
— /. Bowden, p. 51. 

In the year 1657 several ministers of the soci- 
ety arrived in divers parts of New England, and 
Christopher Holden and John Copeland went 
to Salem, where, according to Sewell's History, 
the former " spoke a few words in their meeting 
after the priest had done."' And it is supposed 
that a small meeting was set up about this time, 
or soon afterwards, in Salem, composed of those 
in Salem and Lynn, who had embraced the prin- 
ciples of Friends. 

In confirmation of this opinion the following 
extract from Bowden's History (p. 155) is in- 
serted : — 

" But it was at and near Salem, about sixteen 
miles north of Boston, that the largest number 
of convincements took place. 

" In 1657 it is stated that there were ' divers 
Friends' in that locality. During the summer 
of 1658 the sufle rings of eight families are dis- 
tinctly recorded, and in the ninth month fifteen 



THE ORIOIX OF QUAKETUSJI. HI 

iiidividuals were summoned at one time to the 
court held at Salem, for not attending Puritan 
meetings. Neal states that about this time as 
many as twenty were taken at once from a meet- 
ing held at the house of Nicliolas Phelps, about 
five miles from Salem." — See JYeafs History, 
vol. i. p. 304. 

It has been understood among Friends (whether 
by tradition or otherwise the writer cannot say) 
that the first Friends' Meetings in this vicinity 
were held in a house on what is called the old 
road to Salem, and near the Lynn Mineral 
Spring farm. This opinion is confirmed from 
the fact that Nicholas Phelps's house was " about 
five miles from Salem." 

During the year 1657, Christopher Holden, 
John Copeland, and Richard Doudney were 
arrested, and after being whipped were impris- 
oned in Boston ; and in order to correct the 
public mind in regard to their principles, they 
issued a declaration of their faith. 

A copy of all that is preserved of this docu- 
ment here follows : — 



A Declaration of Faith, and an Exhortation to Obe- 
dience thereto, issued hy Christopher Holden, John 
Copeland, and Eichard Doudney, luhile in Prison 
at Boston, in New England, 1657. 

" Whereas it is reported, by them that have 
not a bridle to their tongues, that we, who are 
by the world called Quakers, are Idasphemers, 
heretics, and deceivers, and that we do deny the 
Scriptures, and the truth therein contained, — • 



112 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

therefore we, who are here in prison, shall in a 
few words, in truth and plainness, declare imto 
all people that may see this the ground of our 
religion, and the faith that we contend for, and 
the cause wherefore we suffer. 

" Therefore, when you have read our words, 
let the meek spirit bear rule, and weigh them in 
the equal balance, and stand out of prejudice, in 
the light that judge th all things, and measureth 
and manifesteth all things. 

" As [for us] we do believe in the only true 
and living God, the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who hath made the heavens and the 
earth, the sea, and all things in them contained, 
and doth uphold all things that he hath created 
by the word of his power. 

" Who, at sundry times, and in divers manners, 
spake in time past to our fathers by the prophets, 
but in these last days he hath spoken unto us by 
his Son, whom he hath made heir of all things, 
by whom he hath made the world. The which 
Son is that Jesus Christ that was born of the 
Virgin ; who suffered for our offences, and is 
risen again for our justification, and is ascended 
into the highest heavens, and sitteth at the right 
hand of God the Father. Even in him do we 
believe ; who is the only begotten Son of the 
Father, full of grace and truth. And in him do 
we trust alone for salvation ; by whose blood 
we are washed from sin ; through whom we have 
access to the Father with boldness, being jus- 
tified by faith, in believing in his name. Who 
hath sent forth the Holy Ghost, to wit, the Spirit 
of Truth, that proceedeth from the Father and 
the Son ; by which we are sealed and adopted 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 113 

sons and licirs of the kingdom of heaven. From 
the which Spirit, the Scriptures of truth were 
given forth, as saith the apostle Peter, ' Holy 
men of God spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost.' 

" The which were written for our admonition, 
on whom the ends of the world are come ; and 
are profitable for the man of God, to reprove, 
and to exhort, and to admonish, as the spirit of 
God bringeth them unto him, and openeth them 
in him, and giveth him the understanding of 
them. 

" So that before all [menj we do declare that 
we do believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit, according as they are [declared of in the] 
Scriptures ; and the Scriptures we own to be a 
true declaration of the Father, Son, and Spirit, 
in [which] is declared what was in the beginning, 
what was present, and was to come. 

" Therefore, all [ye] people in whom honesty is ! 
Stand still and consider. Believe not them that 
say. Report, and we will report it — that say. 
Come, let us suiite them with the tongue ; but 
try all things, and hold fast that which is good. 
Again we say, take heed of believing and giving 
credit to reports ; for know that the truth in all 
ages was spoken against, and they that lived in 
it were, in all ages of the world, hated, per- 
secuted, and imprisoned, under the name of here- 
tics, blasphemers, and " 

[Here part of the paper is torn off ; and it can 
only be known by an unintelligible shred that 
fourteen lines are lost. We read again as fol- 
lows : — ] 

"That showeth you the secrets of your hearts, 

10* 



114 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

and the deeds that are not ^ood. Therefore, 
while you have the li.Q:ht, believe in the light, 
that you may be the children of the light ; for, 
as you love it and obey it, it will lead you to re- 
pentance, bring you to know Him in whom is 
remission of sins, in whom God is well pleased ; 
who will give you an entrance into the kingdom 
of God, an inheritance among them that are 
sanctified. 

" For this is the desire of our souls for all that 
have the least breathings after God, that they 
may come to know him in deed and in truth, and 
find his power in and with them, to keep them 
from falling, and to present them faultless before 
the throne of his glory ; who is the strength 
and life of all who put their trust in him ; 
who upholdeth all things by the word of his 
power ; who is God over all, blessed forever. 
Amen. 

" Thus we remain friends to all that fear the 
Lord, who are sufferers, not for evil doing, but 
for bearing testimony to the truth, in obedience 
to the Lord God of life ; unto whom we commit 
our cause ; who is risen to plead the cause of the 
innocent, and to help him that hath no help on 
the earth ; who will be avenged on all his ene- 
mies, and will repay the proud doers. 

" Christopher Holdeij. 
"John Copeland. 
"Richard Doudney. 

" From the House of Correction, the 1st of the 
eight month, 1657, in Boston." 

See Bowden^s History of Friends in America, 
vol. i. pp. 90 to 92. 



THE ORiniN OF QUAKERISM. 115 

The first assembly of Salem Montlily Meeting, 
of which wo have any record, was on the 4th of 
the fifth month, 167 T. But it is highly probable 
that Monthly Meetings had been held there for a 
considerable time previous, the records of which 
were not preserved. 

We find a record was made in 1675, stating 
that a cow was taken by distraint from George 
Oa,ke3, of Lynn, valued at three pounds, for Sam- 
uel Whiting, priest. 

At a Monthly Meeting held in Salem, the 28th 
of the twelfth month, 1688, it was concluded to 
have a meeting once a month settled at Lynn, 
for the ease of those Friends who are inhabit- 
ants there. 

And in the fifth month, 1689, the Monthly 
Meeting was held there, as appears by the follow- 
ing extract from the records : — 

" At our men's Monthly Meeting at Lynn, held 
at Samuel Collin's house, the 18th of the fifth 
month, 1689. Friends there present, Thomas 
Maule, Daniel Southwick, John Blothen, William 
Williams, Samuel Gaskin, Jun., Samuel Collins, 
Thomas Groves, Edward Gaskin, James Good- 
ridge. The Monthly Meeting has been held, 
from that time to the present, a portion of the 
time in Lynn, and it is now held there eight 
months of the year, and the other four months 
in Salem. For many years it was held a part 
of the time in Boston.* 

By referring to the records of the meeting it 
appears that Friends in Lynn sufiered severely 
for many years, by having their property taken 
from them by distraint, for priests' wages, re- 
pairing meeting houses, and for military fines. 

* See Appendix. 



116 THE ORIGIN OP QUAKERISM. 

Much of the property taken for priest's wages 
was for Jeremiah Shepard. 

A copy of the account of some of their suffer- 
ings will be found at the close of this brief his- 
tory of the society. See Appendix. 

As Friends, in those days, sometimes entered 
the places of worship of other societies, the fol- 
lowing remarks, taken from Bowden's History, 
are deemed important to the reader : — 

"The circumstance of our early Friends en- 
tering the public places of worship, in the times 
of the commonwealth, is one which has been much 
misunderstood and greatly misrepresented. 

" For these acts of dedication they have been 
calumniated as disturbers of religious congrega- 
tions, and as outraging the peace and order of 
the churches. This estimate, doubtless, has been 
formed with reference to usages of more modern 
date ; but to decide upon the conduct of Friends, 
in this particular, from a consideration of present 
circumstances, would be exceedingly erroneous. 
In preaching in the national places of worship, 
they did but avail themselves of a common lib- 
erty, in a period of extraordinary excitement on 
religious things. There were numerous other 
religious meetings held in tliose times, but into 
none of these did Friends obtrude themselves. 
Some probably will agree that the fact of their 
being so severely punished, for persisting in this 
practice, may be adduced in support of its irreg- 
ularity ; but it may be answered, that the preach- 
ing of Friends almost every where at that time, 
whether in steeple houses or private houses, or 
in doors or out of doors, equally called down 
the rigor of ecclesiastical vengeance. It was 



THE ORiaiN OF QUAKERISM. 117 

not, ill fact, because Friends preached in those 
places, so much as for what they preached, that 
they suffered. When George Fox was committed 
to Derby prison in 1650, after preaching in the 
steeple house, at * a great lecture,' the mittimus 
states that his offence was for uttering and 
broaching of divers blasphemous opinions.* 

" In 1659 Gilbert Latey went to Dunstan's 
steeple house m the west, where the noted Dr. 
Manton preached. 

" At the conclusion of the sermon, Gilbert Latey 
addressed the assembly relative to some errors 
in ]\[anton's sermon, for which he was seized by 
a constable, and taken before a magistrate, who, 
however, gave G. Latey leave to speak for him- 
self. The statement he made satisfied the justice, 
and he replied that he had heard the people 
called Quakers were a sort of mad, whimsical 
folks ; ' but,' said he, ' for this man, he talks 
very rationally, and I think, for my part, you 
should not have brought him to me.' f To which 
the constable replied, * Sir, I think so too.' 
This occurred eleven years after G. Fox first 
visited a steeple house, and during that time 
Friends had suffered very much for speaking in 
steeple houses ; yet now a magistrate declares 
that speaking rationally after the speaker had 
finished in a steeple house is not an offence for 
which a man ought to be brought before him. 

" But the ministry of Friends struck at the very 



* These charges against George Fox were false, as an evidence 
of which the reader is referred to his Journal ; and particularly 
to his letter to the governor, council, and government of Bar- 
badoes. 

t See Life of Gilbert Latey. 



118 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

foundation of all liierarclial systems, and the 
discovery of this circnmstance prompted the 
priests to call in the aid of the civil power to 
suppress the promulgation of views so opposed to 
ecclesiastical domination." — See Bowden^s His- 
tory, pp. 80, 81. 

Much that is untrue has been written of 
Friends for venturing into the public places of 
worship in Massachusetts. 

They are said on these occasions to have 
thrust themselves into worshipping assemblies, 
and interrupted the worship or the sermon, with 
outcries of contradiction and cursing. In New 
England, as in Old England, some of our early 
ministers believed it required of them to enter 
the public places of worship ; but in no one in- 
stance do we find, as has been alleged, that they 
interrupted the minister in his sermon. The 
few occasions on which they presented them- 
selves before the congregations in New Eng- 
land, they did not attempt to address the as- 
sembly until the minister had concluded ; and 
then they were stopped, violently assailed, and 
dragged to prison. 

Excepting Marmaduke Stevenson, however, 
the four Friends who were put to death at Bos- 
ton do not appear to have apprehended that 
this service was required of them. The plea, 
therefore, of disturbing religious assemblies 
does not apply in the most extreme cases of 
Puritan cruelty. These suffered martyrdom for 
the mere profession and promulgation of their 
religious views. 

It has been adduced as evidence of the grave 
misconduct of the early Friends in New Eng- 



THE OEIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 110 

land, and as palliating circumstances for the 
severities to which they were subjected, that 
natural decency was outraged by two women 
Friends going unclothed, one into the public 
place of worship in a small town, and the other 
through the streets of Salem. On investigation, 
however, it will be found that these extraordi- 
nary circumstances will not avail the apologists 
of the fathers. When Deborah Wilson and 
Lydia Wardwell went partially unclothed, in 
tlie manner described, a particular explanation 
of which will appear in the following chapter, 
it was not until nine years after the commence- 
ment of the New England cruelties of Friends, 
and four years after the last case of martyrdom, 
and when the persecution had very much sub- 
sided. This is a fact which the modern defend- 
ers of the Pilgrims have omitted to state, and 
by the absence of which their readers arc led to 
believe that it was in consequence of these and 
other acts of misconduct that the rulers of 
Massachusetts adopted their extreme measures 
towards Friends. — Bowden^s History^ pp. 247, 
248. 

The " explanation " for Lydia Wardwell and 
Deborah Wilson's going partially unclothed is 
as follows : — 

"Among the suiferings of Friends in New 
England, the case of Eliakim and Lydia Ward- 
well, of Hampton, deserves particular notice. 
On one occasion, Eliakim Wardwell had a horse 
worth fourteen pounds taken from him, for 
merely receiving the banished Wenlock Christi- 
son into his house. He was also frequently 
lined for absenting himself from the Puritan 



120 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

worship ; and to satisfy these unjust demands, 
nearly the whole of his property was carried 
off. The case of Lydia, his wife, was a very 
peculiar one. Having become convinced of the 
principles of Friends, and consequently ceasing 
to attend the Puritan worship, she was several 
times requested to attend the congregation, and 
give a reason for the change of her opinion and 
practice. She at last went, but under circum- 
stances which were extraordinary and humiliat- 
ing. She had been deeply impressed with the 
want of true religion among many of the high 
professors and rulers of New England, and with 
their unblushing violation of the plainest doc- 
trines of Christ in the persecution of Friends, 
but more especially with the immodest and re- 
volting manner in which females had been pub- 
licly stripped and scourged. 

" Although stated to have been a ' chaste and 
tender woman,' and of ' exemplary modesty,' she 
believed it required of her to appear similarly 
unclothed in the congregation at Newbury, as a 
token of the miserable state of their spiritual 
condition, and as a testimony against the fre- 
quent practice of publicly whipping females in 
the manner referred to. It was to be expected 
that the appearance of Lydia Wardwell under 
such circumstances would be resented by those 
for whom the sign was intended. She was im- 
mediately arrested, and hurried before the author- 
ities of the neighboring town of Ipswich, where 
she was barbarously scourged ; her husband was 
also severely whipped for countenancing this 
apprehended act of duty on the part of his wife. 
The transaction appears to have taken place ia 
the year 1665. 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 121 

" About the same time, Deborah Wilson, who 
is described as ' a yoimg woman of a very mod- 
est and retired life, and sober conversation,' 
under an impression of religious duty, went in a 
similar state through the streets of Salem, as a 
sign against the ' cruelty and immodesty of the 
authorities,' in stripping and whipping females. 
The punishment to which Lydia Wardwell had 
been exposed was soon inflicted on Deborah 
'\Yi\son:' — Bowden's History, pp. 272, 273. 

We are glad, however, to find that there is 
ground for believing that the course pursued by 
the priests and magistrates of that day towards 
Friends did not meet with the general approba- 
tion of the public mind. In reference thereto, 
J. Bowden has made the following remarks : — 

"Notwithstanding the intolerant course pur- 
sued by the priests and magistrates on this occa- 
sion, [arresting and imprisoning Friends on their 
arrival in Boston from England,] it must not be 
supposed that the proceedings met with the sanc- 
tion of the inhabitants generally ; and it is only 
proper to add that the language of their gov- 
ernor gave rise to very intelligible marks of dis- 
satisfaction." — See Bowden, p. 44. 

Friends in Lynn continued to increase in num- 
ber, until they built a meeting house, which was 
erected in the year 1678, on what is now called 
Broad Street, in front of the lot occupied for a 
burying ground. The place vras originally called 
AVolf Hill. 

About the year 1700, George Keith, who had 
once been a Friend, but who, several years pre- 
vious to this, had departed from their principles, 
and become their opposer, came to Lynn, and 

11 



122 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

called at the house of Samuel Collins, to see 
John Richardson, a Friend from England, who 
was there, and who was travelling in this coun- 
try as a minister. This house stood on Essex 
Street, where the one now stands which was 
built by the late Ezra Collins. G. Keith had a 
company of his friends with him, and wished to 
have a dispute with John Eichardson ; and after 
some discussion in front of the house, in which 
G. Keith was very much vanquished, they sep- 
arated. The next day, Friends assembled at 
their meeting house, to hold their monthly meet- 
ing ; and John Richardson being there, George 
Keith and his company came to meeting ; and 
John Richardson, in giving an account of what 
occurred, states as follows, viz. : — 

" So the meeting being gathered, and immedi- 
ately after, George stood up to tell us, as before, 
that he was come in the queen's name to gather 
Quakers from Quakerism to the good old mother 
church, the church of England, as he called it, 
and that he could prove out of our own books 
that we held errors, heresies, damnable doctrines, 
and blasphemies, with a threat to look to our- 
selves to answer, or else the auditory would con- 
clude that what he exhibited against us was true. 
I expected some of the elder Friends would say 
something to him ; but none did ; and having a 
deep concern upon my mind lest truth, or the 
friends of truth, should suffer through our mis- 
management, and such as waited for occasion 
might have it administered by us against our- 
selves, under this concern I stood up and signi- 
fied to the people what manner of man George 
Keith was : notwithstanding he had walked 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 12?> 

many years amongst us, yet towards the latter 
end of his so walking with iis he grew very 
troublesome, by reason of a contentious spirit 
which did possess him ; and after much labor, 
and exercising of patience, and extending of 
love towards him, in order to recover and re- 
claim him, all that labor of love and much for- 
bearance would not avail, but he still persisted 
in the work of contention and disturbance ; then 
he was publicly disowned and testified against 
by us, as a person with whom we had no unity 
or fellowship. 

***** 
" Then pausing a little, George being quiet, a 
Friend stood up with a short but lively testimony, 
and then my companion ; all this in much weight, 
and with good demonstration. After them it 
pleased the Lord to open my mouth, I think in 
as much strength, clearness, and demonstration 
as ever, beginning with the following words : 
In that way you call heresy do we worship the 
Go.d of our fathers, believing all things that are 
written concerning Jesus Christ, both as to his 
Godhead and manhood ; giving a summary ac- 
count of his birth, working of miracles, some of 
his doctrine, sufferings and death, ascension and 
glorification, the coming of the Spirit of truth, 
or Comforter, to lead all those wlio receive, be- 
lieve, and obey it into all truth ; having great 
openings concerning the law and the prophets, 
and the beginning, service, and end of the min- 
istration of John the Baptist. The people ap- 
peared very attentive, for the Lord's heavenly 
baptizing power was amongst us that day. It 
was thought many were there who had not been 



124 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

at any of our meetings of worship before ; and 
the presence of the priests there opened a door 
for all the rest. 

" Being clear, I left them to the grace of God, 
and to their free teacher, Christ, whose heavenly 
power in the appearance of his spirit, the last 
and lasting dispensation, was exalted that day 
above all the shadowy and typical tilings that 
ever had been in the world. A good meeting 
it was ; and Friends were mutually comforted 
and edified in the eternal presence of the Lord. 

" The priest of this place, whose name was 
Shepard, before my mouth was opened in testi- 
mony, made preparation to write ; and when I 
began to speak, he had his hat upon his knee, 
and his paper upon its crown, and pen and ink 
in his hands, and made many motions to write, 
but wrote nothing ; as he began, so he ended, 
without writing at all. As Friends entered the 
meeting house, the Lord's power — 'even that 
power which cut Rahab, and wounded the drag- 
on, which had been at work — kept down in 
a good degree the wrong spirit in George, for 
he appeared much down ; but this busy priest 
called to him several times to make his reply to 
what I had spoken. After some time, I said to 
the priest, in behalf of • the meeting, that he 
might have liberty to make reply. He proposed 
to have another day appointed for a dispute ; 
to which I said, if he did make a voluntary chal- 
lenge, which he should not say we put him upon, 
we, or some of us, meaning Friends, if a day 
and place were agreed upon, should find it our 
concern to answer him as well as we could. He 
said he would have Mr. Keith to be with him. 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 125 

I told him if he should, and meddled in the dis- 
pute, if I was there I should reject him, for rea- 
sons before assigned. When the priest had said 
this, and somewhat more, an elder of the Pres- 
byterian congregation clapped him on the shoul- 
der, and bid him sit down ; so he was quiet ; 
and then stood up George Keith, and owned he 
had been refreshed amongst us that day, and had 
heard a great many sound truths, with some 
errors, but that it was not the common doctrine 
which the Quakers preached. 

" I then stood up and said I had something to 
say to obviate what George Keith would insin- 
uate ; for his drift was, to infuse an opinion into 
them that the Quakers did not commonly preach 
up faith in the manhood of Christ, as I had done 
that day. I appealed to the auditory, whether 
any thought there was a necessity frequently to 
press a matter so universally received among 
Christians, as faith in the manhood of Christ 
was ; yet we, as a people, had so often and 
clearly demonstrated our faith in the manhood 
of Christ, both in our testimonies and writings, 
as might satisfy any unbiased person, or such who 
were not prejudiced against us ; and we know 
not of any people who believe more scripturally 
in the manhood of Christ than we do. But in- 
asmuch as the grace, light, and Holy Spirit is 
highly concerned in the work of man's salvation, 
as well as what Christ did for us without us, and 
this being yet much a mystery to many called 
Christians, it pleases God to open in the course of 
our ministry into the meaning and mystery there- 
of, and to press the latter more than the former. 
To which George made no reply, but began to ex- 

11* 



126 THE ORU;iX OF QUAKERISM. 

Libit his charges against us, and said he could 
prove them out of our Friends' books, naming 
George Fox, and Edward Burrough, &c. He 
had in a paper a great many quotations out of 
Friends' books, and a young man with him had 
many books in a bag, out of which he said he 
would prove the charges he was about to exhibit 
against us. 

^" He was now crowded up into the gallery, 
between me and the rail, with a paper in his 
hand ; and I, standing over him, and being taller, 
could see his quotations, and his paraphrases 
upon them ; on which I told him loudly, that all 
the meeting might hear, that he offered violence 
to that sense and understanding which God had 
given him, and he knew in his conscience we 
were not that people, neither were our Friends' 
writings either damnable or blasphemous, as he 
through envy endeavored to make the world 
believe ; and that he would not have peace in so 
doing, but trouble from the Lord in his con- 
science. 

" I spoke in the Lord's dreadful power, and 
George trembled, so much as I seldom saw any 
man do. I pitied him in my heart ; yet, as 
Moses said once concerning Israel, I felt the 
wrath of the Lord go forth against him. 

" George said, * Do not judge me.' I replied, 
' The Lord judges, and all who are truly one in 
spirit with the Lord cannot but judge thee.' So 
he gave over ; and it appearing a suitable time 
to break up the meeting, Friends parted in great 
love, tenderness, and brokenness of heart ; for 
the Lord's mighty power had been in and over 
the meeting, from the beginning to the end 



THE ORrCIN OV ijUAKERISM. 127 

thereof. Glorified and renowned be his most 
excellent name, now and forever ; for his mer- 
cies are many to those that love and fear Him 
who is the fulness of all good." — See Life of 
John Richardson, published in Friends' Library, pp. 
91 to 93. 

In the course of time, the meeting house built 
by Friends not being sufficient for their accom- 
modation, they erected another ; and in the year 
1816 the society had become so numerous that a 
larger liouse was again needed, when the one 
now occupied by them was built. It stood on 
Broad Street, on the lot used by them as a bury- 
ing ground, until the year 1852, when it was 
moved a few rods back from the street, to the 
place where it now stands, on Silsbee Street. 

The old meeting house was moved on to 
James Breed's wharf, where it now stands, and 
is used for storing lumber, and for other pur- 
poses. 

In the eighth month of the year 1816, Salem 
Quarterly Meeting, which is composed of three 
monthly meetings, was first held in Lynn, and it 
is still held there annually, at the same period in 
the year. 

In 1835 there were about one hundred fami- 
lies belonging to the particular meeting at Lynn ; 
and there are not far from that number at the 
present time. 

In 1777, the attention of Friends was turned 
to the setting up of a school ; and after some 
months' consideration, a school was established 
by Lynn preparative meeting for the children 
of Friends, and those who attended Friends' 
meeting. It was taught a while by John Pope ; 



128 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

Henry Oliver succeeded him as teacher, and 
after Henry Oliver, Micajah Collins taught it for 
many years, until within about one year previous 
to its being closed. It was taught the last year 
by Paul W. Newhall. This was the second 
school set up in Lynn. 

The school house first stood on Broad Street, 
on the Union Store lot. It was then moved into 
Market Street, and stood in front of the land 
where Francis S. and Henry Newhall's house 
now stands. After standing there a few years, 
the house was sold, and another building ob- 
tained, and placed upon the lot on Broad Street, 
in which the school was held. After some years, 
this building was sold to Moses A. Tucker ; it 
was moved to Salem turnpike, where it now re- 
mains, and is converted into a dwelling house, 
and occupied by him. 

A new school house was then built upon the 
same lot on Broad Street, in which the school 
house was held for many years. This building 
is now known as the Union Store. The school 
was supported several years by Friends. 

In 1784, application was made to the select- 
men of Lynn for the proportion of the money 
which Friends were annually paying for the sup- 
port of the public schools to be refunded to 
them, in order that it might be used towards de- 
fraying the expense of their own school. 

Objections were at first made to this request ; 
but after some time had elapsed. Friends were 
allowed to draw back annually a portion of this 
money, for that purpose. The scliool was con- 
tinued about forty years, and this privilege was 
granted them most of the time. 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 129 

A school has been kept up and supported by 
Friends the greater part of the time since that 
period. 

The society in this country and in England 
has from time to time published its declarations 
of faith ; and the following extracts are taken 
from a brief account of the rise of the society, 
and the principles of Friends, prepared by one 
of their prominent members : — 

" The religious society of Friends, commonly 
called Quakers, is a body of Christian profess- 
ors, which arose in England about the middle of 
the seventeenth century. 

" The ministry of Gfeorgo Fox was chiefly in- 
strumental, under the divine blessing, in convin- 
cing those who joined him of those Christian 
principles and testimonies which distinguish the 
society ; and his pious labors contributed in no 
small degree to their establishment as an organ- 
ized body, ha^•ing a regular form of church gov- 
ernment and discipline. 

",To the light of Christ Jesus in the con- 
science he endeavored to turn the attention of 
all, as that by which sin was manifested and re- 
proved, duty unfolded, and ability given to run 
with alacrity and joy in the way of God's com- 
mandments. The preaching of this doctrine was 
glad tidings of great joy to many longing souls, 
who eagerly embraced it, as that for which they 
had been seeking ; and as they walked in this 
divine light, they experienced a growth in grace 
and in Christian knowledge, and gradually came 
to be established as pillars in the house of God. 

" Many of these, before they joined with George 
Fox, had been highly esteemed in the various 



130 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

religious societies of the clay for their distin- 
guished piety and experience, being punctual in 
the performance of all their religious duties, and 
regular in partaking of what are termed 'the 
ordinances.' 

" But notwithstanding they endeavored to be 
faithful to the degree of knowledge they had re- 
ceived, their minds were not yet at rest. 

" They did not witness that redemption from 
sin, and that establishment in the truth, which 
they read of in the Bible as the privilege and 
duty of Christians ; and hence they were induced 
to believe that there was a purer and more spirit- 
ual way than they had yet found. They felt that 
they needed to know more of the power of Christ 
Jesus in their own hearts, making them new crea- 
tures, bruising Satan, and putting him under 
their feet, and renewing their souls up into the 
divine image which was lost in Adam's fall, and 
sanctifying them wholly, in body, soul, and spirit, 
through the inward operations of the Holy Ghost 
and fire. 

"The doctrines of the society may be briefly 
stated as follows : they believe in one only wise, 
omnipotent, and everlasting God, the creator 
and upholder of all things, visible and invisible ; 
and in one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all 
things, the mediator between God and man ; and 
in the Holy Spirit, which proceedeth from the 
Father and the Son — one God, blessed forever. 
In expressing their views relative to the awful 
and mysterious doctrine of ' the three that bear 
record in heaven/ they have carefully avoided 
the use of unscriptural terms, invented to define 
Him who is undefinable, and have scrupulously 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 131 

adhered to the safe and simple language of Holy 
Scripture, as contained in Matt, xxviii. 18, 19, &c. 

"They own and believe in Jesus Christ, the 
beloved and only begotten Son of God, who was 
conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of the 
Virgin Mary. In him we have redemption, 
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, 
who is the express image of the invisible God, 
the first born of every creature, by whom all 
things were created that are in heaven or in 
earth, visible or invisible, whether they be thrones, 
dominions, principalities, or powers. They also 
believe that he was made a sacrifice for sin, who 
knew no sin, neither was guile found in his 
mouth ; tliat he was crucified for mankind in the 
flesh, without the gates of Jerusalem ; that he 
was buried, and rose again the third day, by the 
power of the Father, for our justification, and 
that he ascended up into heaven, and now sitteth 
at the right hand of God, our holy mediator, 
advocate, and intercessor. They believe that he' 
alone is the redeemer and savior of man, the 
captain of salvation, who saves from sin as well 
as from hell and the wrath to come, and destroys 
the works of the devil. He is the seed of the 
woman that bruises the serpent's head, even 
Christ Jesus, the alpha and omega, the first and 
the last. He is, as the Scriptures of truth say 
of him, our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, 
and redemption ; neither is there salvation in 
any other ; for there is no other name under 
heaven given among men whereby we may be 
saved. 

"The society of Friends have uniformly de- 
clared their belief in the divinitv and manhood 



132 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

of the Lord Jesus ; that he was both true God 
and perfect man, and that his sacrifice of him- 
self upon the cross was a propitiation and atone- 
ment for the sins of the whole world, and that 
the remission of sins, which any partake of, is 
only in and by virtue of that most satisfactory 
sacrifice, and no otherwise. 

"Friends believe also in the Holy Spirit, or 
Comforter, the promise of the Father, whom 
Christ declared he would send in his name, to 
lead and guide his followers into all truth, to 
teach them all things, and to bring all things to 
their remembrance. 

" A manifestation of this spirit they believe is 
given to every man, to profit withal ; that it con- 
victs for sin, and, as attended to, gives power to 
the soul to overcome and forsake it ; it opens to 
the mind the mysteries of salvation, enables it 
savingly to understand the truths recorded in 
the Holy Scriptures, and gives it the living, prac- 
tical, and heartfelt experience of those things 
which pertain to its everlasting welfare. They 
believe that the saving knowledge of God and 
Christ cannot be attained in any other way than 
by the revelation of this spirit ; for the apostle 
says, ' What man knoweth the things of a man, 
save the spirit of man which is in him ? Even 
so the things of God knoweth no man, but the 
spirit of God. Now, we have received not the 
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of 
God, that we might know the things which are 
freely given to us of God.' If, therefore, the 
things which properly appertain to man cannot 
be discerned by any lower principle than the 
spirit of man, those things which properly relate 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 133 

to God and Christ cannot be known by any 
power inferior to that of the Holy Spirit. 

" They believe that man was created in the 
image of God, capable of understanding the 
divine law, and of holding communion with 
his Maker. 

" Through transgression he fell from this bless- 
ed state, and lost the heavenly image. His pos- 
terity come into the world in the image of the 
earthly man ; and, until renewed by the quick- 
ening and regenerating power of the heavenly 
man, Christ Jesus, manifested in the soul, they 
are fallen, degenerated, and dead to the divine 
life in which Adam originally stood, and are 
subject to the power, nature, and seed of the 
serpent ; and not only their words and deeds, 
but their imaginations, are evil perpetually in 
the sight of God. Man, therefore, in this state, 
can know nothing aright concerning God ; his 
thoughts and conceptions of spiritual things, un- 
til he is disjoined from his evil seed, and united 
to the divine light, Christ Jesus, are unprofita- 
ble to himself and to others. 

" But while it entertains these views of the lost 
and undone condition of man in the fall, the 
society does not believe that mankind are pun- 
ishable for Adam's sin, or that we partake of his 
guilt, until we make it our own by transgression 
of the divine law. 

" But God, who, out of his infinite love, sent 
his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to 
taste death for every man, hath granted to all 
men, of whatever nation or country, a day or 
time of visitation, during which it is possible for 
12 



134 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

them to partake of the benefits of Christ's death, 
and be saved. 

" For this end he hath communicated to every 
man a measure of the light of his own Son, a 
measure of grace or the Holy Spirit ; by which 
he invites, calls, exhorts, and strives with every 
man, in order to save him ; which light or grace, 
as it is received and not resisted, works the sal- 
vation of all, even of those who are ignorant 
of Adam's fall, and of the death and sufferings 
of Christ ; both by bringing them to a sense of 
their own misery, and to be sharers in the suf- 
ferings of Christ, inwardly ; and by making 
them partakers of his resurrection, in becoming 
holy, pure, and righteous, and recovered out of 
their sins. By which also are saved they that 
have the knowledge of Christ outwardly, in that 
it opens their understandings rightly to use and 
apply the things delivered in the Scriptures, and 
to receive the saving use of them. But this 
Holy Spirit, or light of Christ,, may be resisted 
and rejected ; in which, then, God is said to be 
resisted and pressed down, and Christ to be 
again crucified and put to open shame ; and to 
those who thus resist and refuse him, he becomes 
their condemnation. 

" The society believes that it is not by our 
works wrought in our will, nor yet by good works 
considered as of themselves, that we are justified, 
but by Christ, who is both the gift and the giver, 
and the cause producing the effects in us. As 
he hath reconciled us while we were enemies, so 
doth he also, in his wisdom, save and justify us 
after this manner ; as saith the same apostle 
elsewhere — ' Not by works of righteousness 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 135 

wliicli wc liave clone, but according to his mercy 
lie saved us, by tlic washing of regeneration and 
rene^Ying of the Holy Ghost ; which he shed on 
us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, 
that, being justified by his grace, we should be 
made heirs according to the hope of eternal 
life.' We renounce all natural power and abil- 
ity in ourselves, to bring us out of our lost and 
fallen condition and first nature, and confess that 
as of ourselves we are able to do nothing that 
is good, so neither can we procure remission of 
sins or justification by any act of our own, so as 
to merit it, or to draw it as a debt from God 
due to us ; but we acknowledge all to be of and 
from his love, which is the original and funda- 
mental cause of our acceptance. God mani- 
fested his love toward us, in the sending of his 
beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the 
world, who gave himself an offering for us and 
a sacrifice to God,, for a sweet smelling savor — 
and having made peace through the blood of the 
cross, that he might reconcile us unto himself, 
and by the eternal Spirit offered himself without 
spot unto God, he suffered for our sins, the just 
for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. 
" In a word, if justification be considered in its 
full and just latitude, neither Christ's work 
Avithout us, in the prepared body, nor his work 
within us, by his Holy Spirit, is to be excluded ; 
for both have their place and service in our com- 
plete justification. By the propitiatory sacrifice 
of Christ without us, we, truly repenting and be- 
lieving, are, through the mercy of God, justified 
from the imputation of sins and transgressions 
that are past, as though they had never been 



136 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

committed ; and by the mighty work of Christ 
within us, the power, nature, and habits of sin 
are destroyed ; that as sin once reigned unto 
death, even so now grace reigneth, through 
righteousness, unto eternal life by Jesus Christ 
our Lord. All this is effected, not by a bare or 
naked act of faith, separate from obedience, but 
in the obedience of faith ; Christ being the au- 
thor of eternal salvation to none but those that 
obey him. 

"The society of Friends believes that there 
will be a resurrection, both of the righteous and 
the wicked ; the one to eternal life and blessed- 
ness, and the other to everlasting misery and tor- 
ment ; asTceably to Matt. xxv. 31-46. John v. 
25-30. 1 Cor. xv. 12-58. 

" That God will judge the world by that Man 
whom he hath ordained, even Christ Jesus the 
Lord, who will render unto every man accord- 
ing to his works ; to them, who, by patient con- 
tinuing in well doing, during this life, seek for 
glory and honor, immortality and eternal life ; 
but unto the contentious and disobedient, who 
obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, 
indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, 
upon every soul of man that sinueth, for God is 
no respecter of persons. 

" The religious society of Friends has always 
believed that the Holy Scriptures were written 
by divine inspiration, and contain a declaration 
of all the fundamental doctrines and principles 
relating to eternal life and salvation, and that 
whatsoever doctrine or practice is contrary to 
them is to be rejected as false and erroneous ; 
that they are a declaration of the mind and will 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 137 

of God, ill and to the several ages in wliicli tliey 
were written, and are obligatory on lis, and are 
to be road, believed, and fulfilled, by the assist- 
ance of divine grace. Though it does not call 
them ' the Word of God,' believing that epi- 
thet peculiarly applicable to the Lord Jesus, 
yet it believes them to be the words of God, 
written by holy men as they were moved by 
the Holy Ghost ; that they were written for our 
learning, that we, through patience and com- 
fort of the Scriptures, might have hope ; and 
that they are able to make wise unto salvation, 
through faith which is in Christ Jesus. It looks 
upon them as the only fit outward judge and 
test of controversies among Christians, and is 
very willing that all its doctrines and practices 
should be tried by them, freely admitting that 
whatsoever any do, pretending to the Spirit, 
which is contrary to the Scriptures, be con- 
demned as a delusion of the devil. 

" As there is one Lord and one faith, so there 
is but one baptism, of which the water baptism of 
John was a figure. The baptism which belongs 
to the gospel, the society of Friends believes, is, 
' not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but 
tlie answer of a good conscience toward God, by 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ.' This answer 
of a good conscience can only be produced by the 
purifying operation of the Holy Spirit, transform- 
ing and renewing the heart, and bringing the will 
into conformity to the divine will. The distinc- 
tion between Christ's baptism and that of water 
is clearly pointed out by John : ' I indeed bap- 
tize you with water unto repentance ; but He that 
cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes 
12 * 



138 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

I am not worthy to bear : he shall baptize you 
with the Holy Ghost and fire, whose fan is in 
his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, 
and gather his wheat into the garner, but he 
will burn up the chafi:' with unquenchable fire/ 

" In conformity with this declaration, the soci- 
ety holds that the baptism which now saves is 
inward and spiritual ; that true Christians are 
' baptized by one Spirit into one body ; ' that 
' as many as are baptized into Christ have put on 
Christ ; ' and that, ' if any man be in Christ, he 
is a new creature ; old things are passed away, 
behold all things are become new, and all things 
of God.' 

" Respecting the communion of the body and 
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the society of 
Friends believes that it is inward and spiritual 
— a real participation of his divine nature 
through faith in him, and obedience to the power 
of the Holy Ghost, by which the soul is enabled 
daily to feed upon the flesh and blood of our 
crucified and risen Lord, and is thus nourished 
and strengthened. Of this spiritual communion, 
the breaking of bread and drinking of wine by 
our Savior with his disciples was figurative ; 
the true Christian supper being that set forth in 
the Eevelation : ' Behold, I stand at the door 
and knock ; if any man hear my voice and open 
the door, I will come in to him, and will sup 
with him, and he with me.' 

" As the Lord Jesus declared, ' Without me ye 
can do nothing,' the society of Friends holds 
the doctrine that man can do nothing that tends 
to the glory of God and his own salvation with- 
out the immediate assistance of the spirit of 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 139 

Christ ; and tliat tliis aid is especially necessary 
in the performance of the highest act of which 
he is capable, even the worship of tlie Almighty. 
This worship must be in spirit and in truth — 
an intercourse between the soul and its great 
Creator, which is not dependent upon, or neces- 
sarily connected with, any thing which one man 
can do for another. It is the practice, there- 
fore, of the society to sit down in solemn silence 
to worship God ; that each one may be engaged 
to gather inward to the gift of divine grace, 
in order to experience ability reverently to 
wait upon the Father of spirits, and to offer 
unto him through Christ Jesus, our holy Me- 
diator, a sacrifice well pleasing in his sight, 
whether it be in silent mental adoration, tlie 
secret breathing of the soul unto him, the pub- 
lic ministry of the gospel, or vocal prayer, or 
thanksgiving. Those who are thus gathered are 
the true worshippers, ' who worship God in the 
spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no con- 
fidence in the flesh.' 

"In relation to the ministry of the gospel, the 
society holds that the authority and qualifica- 
tion for this important work are the special gift 
of Christ Jesus, the great head of the church, 
bestowed both upon men and women, without 
distinction of rank, talent, or learning, and 
must be received immediately from him, through 
the revelation of his Spirit in the heart, agree- 
ably to the declarations of the apostle : ' Pie 
gave some apostles, and some prophets, and 
some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of 
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of 



140 THE ORIGIN vOF QUAKERISM. 

Christ.' ' To one is given, by the Spirit, the 
word of wisdom ; to another the word of knowl- 
edge, by the same Spirit ; to another faith ; to 
another the gifts of healing ; to another the 
working of miracles ; to another prophecy ; to 
another discerning of spirits ; to another divers 
kinds of tongues ; to another the interpretation 
of tongues ; but all these worketh that one and 
the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man sev- 
erally as he will.' ' If any man speak, let him 
speak as the oracles of God : if any man min- 
ister, let him do it as of the ability which God 
giveth ; that God in all things may be glorified 
through Jesus Christ.' 

" Viewing the command of our Savior, ' Freely 
ye have received, freely give,' as of lasting ob- 
ligation upon all his ministers, the society has, 
from the lirst, steadfastly maintained the doc- 
trine, that the gospel is to be preached without 
money and without price ; and has borne a con- 
stant and faithful testimony, through much suf- 
fering, against a man-made, hireling ministry, 
which derives its qualification and authority 
from human learning and ordination ; wdiicli 
does not recognize a direct divine call to this 
solemn work, or acknowledge its dependence, for 
the performance of it, upon the renewed mo- 
tions and assistance of the Holy Spirit. When 
a minister believes himself called to religious 
service abroad, — the expense of accomplishing 
which is beyond his means, — if his brethren 
unite with his engaging in it, and set him at lib- 
erty therefor, the meeting he belongs to is re- 
quired to see that the service be not hindered 
lor the want of pecuniary means. 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 141 

" The society of Friends believes that war is 
wholly at variance with the spirit of the gospel, 
which continually breathes peace on earth and 
good will to men. 

" That, as the reign of the Prince of Peace 
comes to be set up in the hearts of men, ' nation 
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither 
shall they learn war any more.' 

" In conformity with the precepts and examples 
of the apostles and primitive believers, the soci- 
ety enjoins upon its members a simple and un- 
ostentatious mode of living, free from needless 
care and expense ; moderation in the pursuit of 
business ; and that they discountenance music, 
dancing, stage plays, horse races, and all other 
vain and unprofitable amusements ; as well as 
the changeable fashions and manners of the 
world, in dress, language, or the furniture of 
their houses ; that, daily living in the fear of 
God, and under the power of the cross of 
Christ, which crucifies to the world and all 
its .lusts, they may show forth a conduct and 
conversation becoming their Christian profes- 
sion, and adorn the doctrine of God our Savior 
in all things." 



Remarks on the foregoing. 

In forming a just estimate of the acts of 
alleged persecutions, allowance must be made 
on both sides for the excitements under which 
the writers of the times testified. That the 
excitements of mind attending this conflict were 



142 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

great, inTolviug a serious disturbance and cloud- 
ing of the judgment of both parties, so far as the 
matter of the conflict was concerned, is manifest 
to all who have read any thing of the history. 
This is the reason why I have preferred to give 
the reader a statement of the Quaker side, as 
made by Quakers, that by a fair comparison of 
both sides, and with a reasonable allowance for 
exaggeration on both sides, he may form his own 
judgment as to the truth. 

It is also material that we should take into 
account the evidence which exists that the 
Quakers, if they could liave changed places with 
the magistrates, would in their circumstances 
have done the like. Cotton Mather (Magnalia, 
vol. ii. p. 456) gives an account of the George 
Keith alluded to in Mr. Boice's statement. He 
says that in 1694 he printed a treatise in confu- 
tation of thirty gross errors of the Quakers, and 
by that means raised about him a storm of perse- 
cution from the Friends of Pennsylvania, who had 
formerly made such tragical outcries against New 
England persecutions, and who punished Keith 
by imprisonment, and involved his adherents in his 
persecutions. In 1694 an almanac was put forth 
in Philadelphia by a Quaker ; and touching this 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 143 

matter, it had the following articles in its tables 
of chronology : 

" Since the English in New England ^ 
hanged their own countrymen for reli- r 36 years, 
gion. J 

"Since, at Philadelphia some did 
little less by taking away goods, and 
imprisoning some and condemning \- 3 years." 
others, without trial, for religious dis- 
sent. 

This fact, that Quakers, settled with civil 
institutions of their own in Philadelphia, brought 
a civil force to bear to restrain just that kind 
of molestation which called forth the civil pen- 
alties in Massachusetts, is very material, in 
showing that persecution was the error of the 
times, from which even the sect that furnished 
the martyrs were not exempt. And what is 
more important is, that this persecution by 
Quakers took place one generation later than 
the persecution of the Quakers here ; that is, 
thirty years after its abandonment in Massachu- 
setts, and after all the illustrations of its evils 
had by experience. 

Another thing to be taken into the account is, 
that some of the offences for which Quakers 



144 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

were punished were such as would now be pun- 
ished by civil penalties. One instance of this 
is had in the case referred to by Mr. Boice, in 
which Quaker women stripped themselves to 
complete nakedness, and went thus naked into a 
public congregation while at worship, under 
pretence of showing the people the nakedness 
of their sins. For this they were arrested and 
publicly whipped ; and the civil law, as it now 
exists, would punish such offences as severely. 

But the most common form of aggression was 
that of attempts to interrupt, with Quaker 
speeches, the public worship of the Puritans. 
That, I believe, all Quaker writers justify on 
various grounds. One suggestion is, that it was 
the custom, in Cromwell's time, for preachers to 
allow speeches by others after their sermons. 
But where that was the custom, it never con- 
templated the introduction of debates as matters 
of strife, or doctrines opposed to what were 
received by the congregation. Nor was there 
liberty for any speaking, except when expressly 
granted by the preacher. And it would be as 
much an offence for strangers to bring in 
strange doctrine, and force it upon the attention 
of the congregation, at the close of the sermon, 



THE ORir.IN OF QUAKERISM. 145 

as if no such habits of liberty existed. The 
fact, if it be a fact, that the Quakers never inter- 
rupted the sermons, made no difference. It mat- 
ters not at what stage of the proceedings in 
public worship the interruption occurs. It is 
equally offensive, and we have an equal right to 
be protected against it. Such an interruption 
as was then offered would by our present laws 
be counted a breach of the peace ; and if a 
stranger were to attend a Quaker meeting, 
where a general liberty of speaking is accorded 
to the members, and insist on speaking against 
the wishes of the worshippers, the penalty could 
be made to reach him for the intrusion. That 
matter stands on precisely the same ground 
with the attempts made by the Comeouters, a 
few years ago, to force themselves on our con- 
gregations in Lynn. The present laws did not 
justify those attempts, though made on the same 
ground, of an assumed divine call. 

Then as to this divine call, which the Quakers 
claimed as their warrant for disturbing their 
neighbors, as it was a call not sustained by the 
written word of God, nor by any miraculous war- 
rant to speak in God's name, it could have no force 
with those to whom the Quakers declared their 
13 



146 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

message. Whea prophets and apostles came to 
the people, with a message from God, they 
produced the proof (in the form of a miracle) 
that God had sent them. But when the Quakers 
came with such a pretended message, they 
required men to believe it, without other proof 
than their simple word ; while it would require 
very strong proof, not less than a miracle, to 
convince a reasonable man that God had sent 
them to do some of the things which they 
did — such, for instance, as to expose their 
nakedness before a worshipping assembly. 
Pertinent to the case was that injunction of 
Paul — " Believe not every spirit ; but try the 
spirits whether they be of God." And by what 
rule must they be tried ? By the written word 
of God. The Spirit of God in the mind never 
prompts us to do what the Spirit of God in the 
Scriptures has forbidden. There is the true 
limit to all credit, to all alleged calls from God. 
If one feels himself moved, by the Spirit of God, 
to do that, the right of which another questions, 
the other, so far as he is interested, has a right 
to deny that the motion has a divine source, 
.and to act on the denial, unless the other can 
show a warrant in the Scriptures, or in a 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 147 

miracle "wrought to prove that God speaks 
through him. So all that the Quakers said 
about their divine call to do as they did, had 
not the weight of a feather in justifying acts of 
aggression upon the peace and rights of their 
neighbors. 

One thing more must be taken into the 
account. Tempora mutantur, et mutamur in illis. 
The Quakers have changed, and the Puritans 
have changed, since those days. Without a 
loss of the essential principles of Puritanism, 
the truest descendants of the first fathers hero 
have in several respects modified, by the lights 
of experience, the principles, habits, and spirit 
which attended the first development. Puritan- 
ism as a system of doctrines — it was old as the 
Bible. But Puritanism as a civil and social 
fabric was new. So far as it was a system of 
doctrines drawn from the Bible, it remains un- 
changed to this day. And the Puritans of this 
day adopt the very creeds which were framed in 
the days of the original Puritans. But Puri- 
tanism, considered as a form of Christian civili- 
zation, was a new system in its time, and it put 
its adherents into a new position, and into new 
relations to the systems around them. And to 



148 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

suppose that they could strike out a system that 
should need no modifications by experience, 
would be to suppose them omniscient. Their 
habit of enforcing uniformity was one of the 
errors in which they had been educated, and 
which required time and experience to change. 

And the Quakers, too, have changed no less 
from the principles, habits, and spirit of their 
founders. The very word Quaker had its origin 
in a habit not now existing. If we may credit 
contemporary writers, even under a discount of 
fifty per cent, we shall find that the doctrines 
announced by the first heralds and martyrs of 
the system were very different from what now 
appear in the creed of the sounder bodies of 
Friends. 

It must be borne in mind, that, when we con- 
demn these Puritan fathers for their short-com- 
ings in religious freedom, we are condemning 
those who were in their time " the foremost 
men of all this world" in the very matter of 
religious freedom, and the men to whom the 
world is most indebted for breaking the iron 
tyranny of ages, and leading the way to what 
freedom we now enjoy. When they first com- 
menced the exercise of civil power here, there 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 149 

was no government in Cliristendom that did 
not sustain the church by civil coercion. We 
have, then, only to blame them for not having 
attained what none of the wise and good in all 
the earth had attained. 

The friction engendered by the requirement 
that all the colonists should be taxed to support 
the ministry, was one of the greatest sources of 
disaster to the Puritan cause. But the parish in 
Lynn took early measures to mitigate the evils 
of this law, and so far to relax its force as to 
maintain good neighborhood with the Quakers. 
In the year 1722 they voted — 

" The parish considering that sundry of our 
neighbors called Quakers, who have in times 
past requested to be dismissed from paying 
taxes to our minister, Rev. Nathaniel Henchman, 
which in some respects hath been granted, — 
but now our parish observing said Quakers fre- 
quently purchasing lands, that have usually paid 
to the support of our minister in times past, and 
under like obligation with our other lands to 
pay to the maintenance of our minister, — where- 
fore, voted, that all the lands belonging to said 
parish, purchased by said Quakers (not meaning 
one of another) since the settlement of our 
13^ 



150 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

present minister, as also all other ratable lands, 
in whose hands soever, shall for the future pay 
to said parish, excepting only such lands and 
estates of the several Quakers hereafter named, 
now freed from paying to the parish the present 
year, and the same to be at the discretion of the 
parish, from year to year, whether to pay or 
not." 

Then follows a list of fifteen persons that were 
exempt. Similar votes, exempting individuals in 
about the same number, were passed from year 
to year, for several years. From this it seems 
that it had been the custom before this to 
exempt individuals to some extent. The claim 
here made, that all the lands belonging to the 
parish were under obligation to pay to the main- 
tenance of the minister, bears a tacit reference 
to the original conditions on which lands were 
granted from the corporation to the individual. 
Each township was a branch of the original 
Massachusetts corporation, and as such it was 
the common proprietor of the land in the town- 
ship granted to it, by the court or corporation 
of the colony. Now, the town, in granting its 
common property to individuals, did it under 
the condition that it should contribute its share 



THE ORIGIN OP QUAKERISM. 151 

to bear the common burdens of tlie town, one 
of which was the support of the ministry. This 
was " the obligation which lay upon the land/' 
a reserve tacitly made in the original grant, and 
which could not be nullified in passing from one 
owner to another. It was a condition in the 
deed which bound and attached it to the titles 
of all future owners. 

Touching this habit of taxing and coercion 
in religious matters, while we confess that our 
fathers committed great errors, we feel bound to 
vindicate them from a mass of misconceptions 
which has grown up around the subject. The main 
misconception has come from overlooking the 
peculiar nature of the first constitution of the 
colony, which was primarily a corporation of 
stockholders in a trading company, and only 
incidentally a civil constitution. The civil func- 
tions exercised were the result which necessity 
grafted upon the charter. Suppose a company 
incorporated here for settling a colony and man- 
aging the needful property like that in Kanzas 
Territory, where there is a civil government, and 
where they have no occasion for civil functions, 
should, under a like charter, attempt the settle- 
ment of a colony in some island of the Pacific 



152 THE ORIGIN OP QUAKERISM. 

where no actual civil jurisdiction exists, and 
suppose they were to constitute the officers act- 
ing under their charter, from the necessity of the 
case, the source of civil authority. Then you 
would have a parallel to the government of Mas- 
sachusetts in its first origin. The president and 
directors of this trading company, from necessity, 
exercised civil powers. The civil powers came 
in as an incident to the corporate functions. 
Modifications of this form of government were 
made from time to time, till this trading cor- 
poration had become what was called the Great 
and General Court of Massachusetts. 

For this reason there was not at the begin- 
ning any attempt to lay a platform of govern- 
ment on any deliberately framed bill of rights. 
For civil rights were a mere incident in the 
framing of the charter for the trading company. 
Those were afterwards learned only under the 
dictates of necessity. It was no object of the 
first planters to attract to them persons of all 
characters and creeds, and have a frame of 
government suited to such a mixed society. 
They sought the opposite of this. They sought, 
first of all, an asylum from persecutions for 
themselves, and they did at least all that was 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 153 

prudent to keep away from them all persons not 
of their mind. 

While their civil government was having a 
gradual formation by experiments and use, 
under the guide of necessity, with its theory 
very little elaborated in the minds of its ad- 
ministrators, — while, so to speak, they were 
feeling their way along in untried and little 
illumined paths, — the storm of Quakerism over- 
took them. But it was a development of which 
the Quakerism of the present day can give us 
little idea. Now, Quakers are the most quiet 
of all citizens, and they are loyal supporters of 
civil government. But those were the reverse. 
They came hither for the purpose of detaching 
the people both from the ministry and the ma- 
gistracy, and denouncing both in the severest 
terms. The government of the infant colony 
was weak. The people were few ; probably 
not over sis thousand in all New England. 
There was more apparent danger from the 
frenzy and the constant influx of Quaker 
declaimers than there was from any other ex- 
perience which the colony had. The onset was 
fierce and efficient among imaginative and sus- 
ceptible minds, and spread a contagion of feeling 



154 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

approaching to insanity wherever it went. The 
wisest men of the colony trembled with expec- 
tation that all was to be thrown into confusion. 
The declaimers went about disturbing public 
worship, denouncing the laws, and vociferating, 
"We deny thy Christ! We deny thy God! 
And the Bible is the word of the devil ! " For 
some of those violent proceedings men would 
now be restrained by civil force. But they 
were immensely more injurious then, when the 
civil government was weak, having no settled 
principles on which rulers and people could 
rely. Yet even the panic of the times — for 
panic it was — did not justify the acts of se- 
verity used. Though the aim of the assailants 
evidently was to displace civil government, and 
throw all into confusion, it did not take the 
form of treason ; and did not justify the taking 
of life, nor the cruel scourgings which in some 
instances were inflicted. The husband of Mary 
Dyer told the truth when he pleaded that she 
might be let off on the ground of derangement. 
Between a frenzy of that kind and a mono- 
mania, that throws the reason from one of its 
seats, it were difficult to distinguish. Those 
people, then, should have been restrained by 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 155 

civil force only as deranged people are re- 
strained. Their conviction of a divine call to 
do absurd things was all real to them, because 
the reason, in that particular, had been unseated. 
And the error of our fathers consisted some- 
what of a deficient philosophy of the human 
mind ; and they attributed to invisible spirits 
and malignant agents what came of natural dis- 
orders of mind. 

Yet it is but justice that we should hear the 
contemporary defences which were made for 
them. And these bring us to the principle 
which underlay all that was exclusive in their 
policy. They said that the Quakers themselves 
would say, that if they had got into a corner, 
with immense toil and expense, and made a 
wilderness habitable, for the purpose of being 
undisturbed in the exercise of their worship, 
they would never bear to have New Englanders 
come among them, to interrupt their public wor- 
ship, and seduce their children from it. They 
would, at least after mild entreaties, oblige them 
to depart. 

This shows them standing upon their rights, 
as having founded the colony for their own re- 
ligious purposes, to the injury of the rights of 



156 LEGAL SUPPORT OF MINISTERS. 

no others. They claimed that they had come 
into this wilderness, and made themselves pro- 
prietors of the lands, for their religious ends ; 
that the whole land covered by their charter 
was simply their property — the property of the 
corporation first, then of its branches in the 
several townships to which the company had 
granted it, and then of the individual free- 
holders to whom the towns had granted it. 
They did not invite men of other creeds to come 
in and share in the property and privileges 
which at great toil and expense they had pro- 
cured. Their regulation that none but church 
members should vote for corporate officers has 
been little understood. The truth is, that when 
that law was made, there were next to none but 
church members here. Probably ninety-nine out 
of a hundred, having the other qualifications, 
were church members. Those who were not 
were mostly interlopers and strangers, having 
interests and plans opposite to those of the 
colonists. There was no oppression in this law 
when it was made. For there were properly 
no stockholders in the company, and none who 
on any grounds could claim to be partners in 
it, who were not church members. And it was 



LEGAL SUPPORT OP MINISTERS. 157 

made to exclude those from acting as stock- 
holders who were not such, and whose acts 
were feared as hostile to the interests in the 
company. What of wrong existed in the case 
lay not in the making of that law, when the 
church and the state actually consisted of the 
same persons, but in not repealing it when the 
church ceased to be the state, and when it went 
to disfranchise their own children as well as 
strangers. It rested on an erroneous and im- 
practicable assumption, to wit, that it was pos- 
sible and right for men of one set of views in 
religion to appropriate one portion of the earth 
to themselves, and on it rear a nation, exclud- 
ing, as the Shakers or the Mormons do, all other 
men. Now, as long as the earth is the Lord's, 
and the fulness thereof, this, as a permanent re- 
sult, on a large scale, cannot be done. The will 
of Providence and the nature of man are against 
it. Hence this law, though right as a protec- 
tive regulation at the commencement, was, in 
its permanency, a violation of natural rights. 
When the same persons were both the church 
and state, the union of church and state was 
no wrong. But when the state was composed 
of different persons from the church, then the 
14 



158 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

forced union involved violence and injustice. 
And this was tlie error of our fathers. Their 
act was defensible in its origin, and indefensible 
in its continuance. It was necessary to their 
end of securing here a home for Puritanism 
away from the clashings of opposite religions 
till their foundations could be firmly laid. 

The like may be said of the custom of warn- 
ing out of town all unauthorized new comers, 
as undisputed residence in a township would 
secure a partnership in town property and priv- 
ileges, bought by the common toil and funds of 
the proprietors, and render the town liable to 
their support as paupers ; the new comers were 
usually met with a protest, in the form of a 
warning to depart. Now, the facts were, that 
besides what property each one held as his own, 
the town had a large amount of common or un- 
divided lands, of which each lawful inhabitant 
had a joint interest, which they might at any 
time divide among themselves. And if stran- 
gers came in without a protest, and shared with 
them in the property and privileges of the town, 
there would have been a wrong. But in the 
710W existing state of things, when strangers 
come in to share, not the property, but the debts 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 159 

of the town, it would be a great absurdity to 
warn tliem out, as it would be to confine tlie 
elective franchise to church members. 

But, according to the basis on which our 
fathers stood, be it right or wrong, there was a 
necessity for it ; in that each town corporation 
was a branch of the original Massachusetts cor- 
poration, existing for the holding and manage- 
ment of its property for its specific end. 

So, when persons of other religions came in to 
propagate their peculiar views among their chil- 
dren, it was at least natural that they should 
turn the cold shoulder to them. They felt that 
they had a right to come away to this desolate 
corner of the world, and here be undisturbed ; 
that they here had just rights of proprietorship 
which ought to shield them from the conflicts 
from which they had fled. They felt as one 
would feel when a furious zealot had intruded 
into his house against his will, and made an 
onset on his children, to detach them from his 
faith and worship. Such a man would feel, 
whether right or not, that his ownership of his 
house entitled him to expel the intruder. 

This principle will clearly explain where it 
does not justify their treatment of Mary Fisher 



160 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

and Ann Austin, and the other Quakers who made 
disturbance in the colony in a violent crusade 
against ministers and magistrates. It will also 
explain, if not justify, the provisions which the 
corporation made, that all its taxable lands 
should contribute to support the ministry. And 
we see why it is that the first parish in Lynn 
claimed that all the lands that belonged to the 
parish at the time of the settlement of a minis- 
ter were pledged for his support. This prin- 
ciple grew necessarily from the origin and 
structure of the colony, and while all the people 
were of one mind, it involved no injustice. The 
error lay in sustaining and enforcing the prin- 
ciple after a considerable portion of other men 
had acquired a civil status and the rights of 
citizenship among them. It was not the intent 
of Providence that they should be able, as they 
doubtless desired, through all generations to 
keep out of their community all men of other 
principles. Taking in all the interests of the 
world, it was not best that they should. Puri- 
tanism, being the completest embodiment of the 
life principles of the New Testament, was of too 
much value to the world to be thus isolated, 
cooped, and cribbed. In the intent of Provi- 



TPIE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. IGl 

dence, it was the opening of a fountain of healing 
power for the world. He would have the world 
come in contact with it. As soon, therefore, as 
it was made plain to them that their asylum from 
persecution was to become something more than 
a model plantation for a Christian community, 
even the germ of a mighty nation, upon w^hich 
God was to gather outcasts from all nations, and 
work wonders before the world, they should have 
adjusted their polity to their destiny, and have 
abandoned that exclusive principle, and have ad- 
mitted an equality of religious rights to all. 

But while our judgment, aided by the experi- 
ence of two centuries, can detect these faults in 
the course of the Puritan fathers, who of us is 
sure that he, with only their means of knowing 
the harmonies of civil and religious freedom, 
would have judged better than they ? A cruiser, 
following the wake of other voyagers, or guided 
by charts made and corrected by the experience 
of centuries, may sneer, if he will, at the devious 
course of a Columbus, pushing a voyage of dis- 
covery in untravelled seas. Yet, in the e7Tors 
of Columbus, being the steps to the discovery 
of a continent, there is more to admire than in 
tlie skilful navigation of a mere follower of 



1G2 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

charts. So it was with our fathers. They were 
laying their course in an unknown sea, towards 
a new world of light and liberty, having no 
lights of others' experience to guide them. And 
their errors evince more of wisdom than any of 
their critics have attained. 

But, perhaps, it will be said, that the true 
principles of religious liberty were announced 
to them by their opponents. That is true. 
But they were not brought to them tested by 
experience. They came to them, not as what 
any nation under heaven had practised, but as 
what was desired for the furtherance of inter- 
ests hostile to their own. They were first an- 
nounced to them in the ravings of men who 
said, " We deny thy God, we deny thy Christ, 
and thy Bible is the word of the devil," and 
by a class of men who afterwards persecuted in 
their turn ; and it was no easy matter to receive 
a new truth from such dispensers. 

As to their practice of supporting the minis- 
try by a tax, we have need better to discrim- 
inate, and find where the error lay. The sup- 
port of the ministry, by some means, was to 
them an indispensable necessity. The ministry 
was the cause of their coming hither ; and the 



THE ORICxIN OF QUAKERISM. 163 

ministry was the main instrument of rearing 
sucli institutions, and such a people, as they 
came hither to rear. And who shall say that 
they did not take the course, which, for the time 
being, would best secure the end? and who 
shall say that they had not then a right to take 
it ? Institutions must have some adjustment to 
previous habits of the people. This people had 
been in a habit of being taxed for the support 
of the ministry. But in their outset here, they 
made the experiment of supporting it by free 
and unregulated contributions. And, because 
not accustomed to it, they could not do it with- 
out a great inequality of burdens coming upon 
the more generous. Just that method which 
you say they should have adopted they did 
adopt, and found it a failure. Then, simply for 
the sake of equalizing the burdens upon the 
people, all of whom were equally bound to bear 
them, — and not for the oppression of aliens and 
strangers, that did not at all come into account, 
— they made this law. They made it on the 
assumption that this people was to be a homo- 
geneous people. And as long as they continued 
so, there was no injustice in it. And though 
they continued the law too long, they did this 



164 THE ORICxIN OF QUAKERISM. 

on the assumption that what had made a residence 
in New England desirable, and what attracted 
strangers here, was the result of that institution 
which this tax sustained. And hence they con- 
cluded it equitable and just, that those who came 
to partake of the advantages of New England 
institutions should contribute to that which pro- 
duced them. 

Though this principle is faulty, the fault was 
not that it did injury to men of other views, 
who found themselves here before strangers had 
fairly a claim to come in and make themselves 
at home. We think the question now in contest 
respecting the rights of foreigners to come in 
and stand on an equal platform with native cit- 
izens, and share equally in all the results of our 
fathers' toil and blood, and equally in the con- 
trol of our institutions, involves the same prin- 
ciple. If our fathers did wrong in not giving 
full freedom and equality of privileges to all 
comers, then we do wrong in withholding the 
same. 

If this view be correct, that principle of 
taxing for the support of the ministry was 
not unjust when it was adopted. For there is 
no injustice in a homogeneous community tax- 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 165 

ing themselves, as the best way of equalizing 
a common burden. It was not wrong, in the 
sense of being inexpedient for the time, and for 
that people. For experience proved it better 
than the opposite method. The wrong consisted 
in the fact that it did not admit of exceptions, 
and was not gradually relaxed and laid aside, 
to meet the gradual change in the people. 

This was a grievous wrong, and grievously 
have we suffered for it. The Puritan churches 
in Massachusetts have been immense losers by 
holding on to this principle of taxing all comers. 
After men of other sects had fairly acquired 
independent rights of citizens here, such taxes 
upon them became unjust, and so became fuel for 
the flames of discontent with the existing or- 
der of things, and a constant stimulus to war 
against it. 

No religious denomination could stand in 
such relations to a people not wholly united 
without immense damage. And when the rigor 
of this principle began to be relaxed, it was put 
in a shape still worse for us. Then the law 
compelled all to pay a tax to our parishes, un- 
less they could show a certificate that they be- 
longed to some other denomination. This law 



166 THE ORIGIN OP QUAKERISM. 

operated as a premium for getting up other 
denominations. The cases were countless in 
which disaffected individuals, having occasion 
to drive a parish quarrel to a splitting point, 
and hindered by this law from starting another 
church of the same denomination, they were 
compelled, in order to compass their ends, to 
assume the ^jrinciples of another denomination. 
Probably a majority of the churches of op- 
posing sects in this state had their origin in 
just this cause ; and the wonder is, that their 
number is not greater. It also operated in 
favor of Unitarianism. When orthodox mem- 
bers of a parish had, unfortunately, and at una- 
wares, came under a Unitarian ministry, and 
felt the necessity of seceding, for the truth's 
sake, they could not be allowed to secede as 
Congregationalists, for the laws then regarded 
Unitarians as Congregationalists, and so they 
were compelled to remain. In one instance, an 
orthodox church seceded from a Unitarian con- 
gregation, and from necessity took the Presby- 
terian form. Unitarianism owes its existence 
and present strength more to this law than to 
any other external cause. It operated power- 
fully, in another direction, to this end. The 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 167 

compulsory provision for the support of the 
ministry fostered that careless, worldly spirit 
in the ministry which makes the Unitarian doc- 
trine welcome. The minister was not dependent 
for his worldly success on the spiritual energy 
and vitality of his ministry, and was brought 
under temptation to give way to flesh-pleasing 
delusions. 

While we mourn at the many defections from 
the Puritan faith, and lament that we cannot see 
on this ground that people which New England 
would have presented, if this faith had been 
sustained in its vigor, and with one mind, — 
while we deplore the manifold moral mischiefs 
that have come from the laxer faiths, and the 
no-faiths, that have in such abundance suc- 
ceeded, — we find our consolation in the thought, 
that He who causes the wrath of man to praise 
him is acting from a plan more broad than we 
can compass, and that he has suffered these 
evils to come in, that he might make them trib- 
utary to a good more vast than could liave come 
from any of the issues which we could have con- 
ceived to be preferable. 

In the multiplication of sects we see one of 
the mysteries of God's spiritual providence. In 



168 THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 

not hindering it, God seems to have opened the 
way for great hinderances to his own cause. 
And so it is for the present, and in some respects. 
And yet even now, in many forms, good is 
coming out of the evil ; and hereafter, in ways 
not now conceived, it must contribute to give 
breadth and quickening to the whole work of 
evangelizing the world. 

And one of the many ways in which it does good 
is that of discipline, in the formation of Chris- 
tian character. It is no small matter for the 
Christian to meet all the requisites of Christian 
society, constituted, as it now is, of persons of 
all varieties of views. It is no easy matter to 
carry out a generous obedience to the laws of 
Christian charity, and at the same time with un- 
flinching honesty to meet all the demands of 
Christian truth, and contend earnestly for the 
faith once delivered to the saints. In order to 
this, we must discriminate, and know what prin- 
ciples do, and what do not, consist with Chris- 
tian character, and be always ready to recognize 
Christian character, under whatever names we 
find it, and as ready to refuse to give God-speed 
to any one who brings another gospel. It re- 
quires, under these circumstances, not a little of 



THE ORIGIN OF QUAKERISM. 169 

wisdom and grace to meet our responsibilities. 
And in this school, perhaps unconsciously to 
themselves, Christians come under a constant 
discipline. Let us obediently and earnestly 
meet the difficulties of our position, ever seek- 
ing that wisdom which is from above, which is 
first pure and then peaceable. While we take 
heed that we offend not one of these little ones, 
under the penalties attached to that offence, 
let us not forget those words of the apostle — 
" Though we, or an angel from heaven bring 
any other gospel, let him be accursed." 
15 



CHAPTER Y. 

Close of Me. Shepakd's Ministry. — Calling of a 
Colleague. — Settlement of Mr. Henchman. — His 
OPPOSING the Eevival. — His Conflict WITH White- 
field. — Consequent Parish Quarrels. 

Mr. Shepard had filled out a ministry of more 
than forty years, and had attained the age of 
seventy-one years, when, in view of his bodily 
infirmities, it was thought best that he should 
have the aid of a colleague. So in January, 1719, 
"at a meeting of the lower part of the body of 
the town of Lynn, considering the age and bodily 
infirmity of our reverend pastor, Mr. Shepard, and 
his inability to carry on the whole work of the 
ministry, it was voted that another minister be 
called to settle in the work of the ministry." 
The way was now opened for the hearing of can- 
didates. But it is probable that Mr. Henchman 
had preached here before. For it was not usual 
at that time to give one a call after so short a 
probation. For only twenty- three days after this 

vote, the church voted a call to Mr. Henchman ; 

(170) 



171 



and in a week after that, the parish voted their 
concurrence. Hence it is probable that, by rea- 
son of the infirmities of Mr. Shepard, Mr. Hench 
man had supplied his pulpit before any resolu- 
tion had been taken to settle a colleague. 

But as the parish was now in a way to have 
two ministers to support, they set about devising 
ways and means. A proposition was made to Mr. 
Shepard to relinquish the use of a part of the 
parsonage lands, and the town was moved to 
grant a part of the land on the Common for the 
use of the ministers, in addition to the lands of 
the town then in use by Mr. Shepard. This last 
proposition was granted by the town ; but five 
persons, one of them a deacon, probably of the 
new parish, recorded their protest against it. 
Having thus secured parsonage lands for the use 
of the new minister, the parish voted for Mr. 
Henchman a salary of ninety pounds during Mr. 
Shepard's life, and one hundred and fifteen 
pounds after his death, and a gratuity of one 
hundred and sixty pounds as a settlement. No 
diminution appears to have been intended in 
Mr. Shepard's salary on the settlement of his 
colleague. And from the society's ability to 
support two ministers, and give the new one a 



172 MR. HENCHMAN'S MINISTRY. 

greater salary and a liberal bonus, it may be 
inferred that they had a good degree of pros- 
perity under Mr. Shepard's ministry. It was 
but a few years before this that the hive had 
swarmed in the establishment of the Lynnfield 
parish ; and now it had so far recovered its 
strength that it was able, without apparent hesi- 
tation, to make such liberal outlays. Here was 
evidence of a relative ability that it never after- 
wards had. Here, in the absence of historic 
materials, is very decisive inferential proof that 
in the general interests of the society, Mr. Shep- 
ard's ministry was very prosperous ; and we doubt 
not that it was in its spiritual interests. 

In March of this year Mr. Henchman gave 
his answer, accepting the call. This was dated 
in March, but it was not read in parish meeting 
till June 20. The reason of the delay may be 
easily conjectured, for on the 2d of June Mr. Shep- 
ard died. It would seem that proceedings about 
the ordination had been delayed by his sickness 
and expected death. So Mr. Henchman received 
and accepted the call as a colleague pastor, but 
was ordained as the sole pastor of the church. 
One expression in his answer in which he accepts 
the " terms freely and voluntarily " voted by the 



MR. henchman's ministry. 173 

parish, would show that he thought them spe- 
cially generous ; and hence it would seem that 
the people had high expectations of their young 
pastor. Yet the settlement of this pastor gave 
a new and disastrous turn to affairs. Up to 
this time, from the settlement of the first pastor, 
every thing, for aught that appears, was prosper- 
ous. The truth had been preached by men who 
felt its power, and the ordinary outward indica- 
tions of thrift appeared. But now, unconsciously 
to themselves, the church had introduced a pas- 
tor to whose labors God would not attach his 
blessing. Without intending it, they had come 
under a ministry of another spirit, and under 
another system of doctrines. Churches are not 
in a habit of attaching much importance to 
shades of difference in doctrine, and some can- 
not even patiently endure those that give to 
them any importance, and thereby they incur 
great hazard in settling ministers. In this case, 
it was probably not evident to undiscriminating 
minds that Mr. Henchman seriously differed in 
views from Mr. Shcpard ; perhaps Mr. Shepard 
himself did not know it, and perhaps he did ; 
for an aged minister receiving a colleague often 
lias strong reasons to keep to himself his con- 
15* 



174 MR. henchman's ministry. 

victions in such a case, while the best interests 
of his people require that they should be known 
and fully respected. Possibly, in this case, that 
alone might have saved this church all the mis- 
chiefs that have come upon its successive genera- 
tions through the unsound teaching of its pastors. 
It is clear that the people did not apprehend 
that they made any departure from the original 
principles by settling that pastor ; for subse- 
quently evidence comes out that they were satis- 
fied with his ministry in its earliest years, and 
yet, that when his unsoundness was discovered, 
the people were sound, and were displeased with 
his defections. A few years before this, Cotton 
Mather had said, that a minister in New Eng- 
land denying the proper deity of Christ was 
not known ; and probably up to this time even 
Arminians were rare. As little danger was ap- 
prehended in the form of a change of doctrines, 
the vigilance of the church was not awake. 
Tares were sown while men slept. But about 
this time such defections began to be frequent, 
by reason of a decline of divine life in the 
churches, which was manifest and mourned over 
at a much earlier period ; and through want of 
vigilance not this church alone, but many others, 



MR. henchman's ministry. 175 

about this tiino came under the ministry wliich 
finally led them away to another gospel. A 
church that comes to settle a new minister, after 
having been long under the sound and faithful 
ministry of another, has come to a critical point — 
a position of rare temptation. Observe it when 
you will, such churches will be found usually to 
make choice of a minister who has strong points 
of contrast with their former minister ; and that 
however much they may have valued the former. 
This results unavoidably from princij^les of hu- 
man nature. After the general mind of a people 
has become familiar with certain habits and qual- 
ities of a long-cherished pastor, when they come 
to their next choice of a pastor, they are natu- 
rally better pleased with one whose engaging 
qualities lie in another direction. This, result- 
ing from common laws of the human mind, in- 
volves no blame, provided the qualities chosen 
are good and involve no departure from truth. 
But here lies the danger. The same law of 
mind which gives novelties of manner and gifts 
an attraction, predisposes a people to adopt 
novelties in doctrine. A new minister, it may 
be, brings with him new theories, which he pre- 
sents in a plausible form : of course careful not 



176 MR. henchman's ministry. 

to exhibit them in direct antagonism to the 
received doctrine, careful not to rouse suspicion 
in aoy form. The congregation, not suspecting 
error, are taken with what seems to them new 
and striking ideas, and before they are aware 
have slid away from the foundations. Some- 
thing like this probably took place on the set- 
tlement of Mr. Henchman, though the congrega- 
tion were more than usually reluctant to follow 
him into his errors when they came to understand 
them. 

And here allow me to be a little personal, for 
one object which I have had in giving this his- 
tory is to make its facts a source of instruction 
against future departures from the truth. In a 
few years, more or less, this church will again 
have the critical and important duty devolved 
upon it of the choice of a pastor ; and I wish that 
then the burnt child may dread the fire. I expect 
that you will choose one whose desirable qualities 
are the opposite of my own. Nor, should I then 
be in the land of the living, will I take it un- 
kindly in you, provided the points of his contrast 
do not involve a defection from the original 
faith of this church — provided you will not re- 
peat the experiment which was made in the 



MR. henchman's ministry. 177 

settlement of Mr. Henchman, and clioose one 
whose apparently slight departures from the 
foundations shall lead on to new defections and 
a repetition of the scenes of darkness through 
which you have gone. As it is very possible 
that Satan may then set for you the old snare, 
I wish now to take the opportunity to record in 
advance my protest against it. I wish to convey 
to those who may be actors in that scene my 
solemn charge before God and the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and in view of all the plagues written in 
the book of the history of this church, that they 
see to it that the minister whom they place in 
this pulpit have the two indispensable requi- 
sites — that he be thoroughly grounded in the 
truth, and earnest in the possession and promo- 
tion of vital godliness. Beware lest any man 
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. 

It was, as I have intimated, near the com- 
mencement of the coming in of Arminia,n errors 
upon the Puritan churches when Mr. Henchman 
was settled. There had been an abatement of 
the original zeal of the Puritans ; the tone of 
general religious life was depressed. And com- 
pared with the stricter morals that obtained in 
the first generation, when most of the people 



178 MR. henchman's ministry. 

were Christians, and eminently sucli, — thero 
had been an alarming incursion of immorality. 
Connected with this general depression of reli- 
gious life, there were laxer views of doctrine 
among some of the ministers. They professed a 
general adherence to Puritan standards, claim- 
ing only to make some verbal and unimportant 
modifications. As parishes now make little ac- 
count of any differences of doctrine among 
ministers professing orthodoxy, much less did 
they then. So this church then settled a minister 
of reputed orthodoxy,^ whose inclinations to 
heresy were not discovered from his preaching. 
Yet in that settlement they procured among 
them the planting of the seeds of error, whose 
harvest was most disastrous. 

In the first years of Mr.'Henchman's ministry, 
his errors were little observed, and he gave 
general satisfaction to his people. The doc- 
trines which they heard were not so manifestly 
different from what they had previously heard as 
to awake any alarm. The change probably con- 
sisted mostly of omissions. But his lax doctrines 
had produced their relaxing effects on his own 
mind, and made him of another spirit from his 
predecessor. And as he progressed in this dete- 



MR. henchman's ministry. 170 

rioration faster tlian lie carried his people with 
him, he at length became involved in a conflict 
with them which ended only with his life. His 
sun set in a gloomy cloud. 

The first occasion of an earnest conflict was 
the revival of religion which took place in the 
time of Whitefield. But the awakened interest 
commenced here, and there was a collision of 
the parish with their minister before Whitefield 
came. It seems that, by the labors of other 
ministers, the revived religious feeling, which 
attended what was called the " Great Awaken- 
ing '' in other places, was extended to this place. 
The people, it seems, importuned their minister 
to encourage these labors of other ministers. 
To evade this importunity, he made a formal 
proposal to the parish meeting, that he himself 
would preach lectures on other days than the 
Sabbath. From this it appears that it had not 
been his custom to preach at all except on the 
Sabbath, and the preparatory lecture. Now, the 
proposal to preach extra lectures was so extrao;.-- 
dinary as to be exhibited at a parish meeting, 
and to call forth a vote of thanks. This shows 
the set formality, deadness, and meagrencss of 
his ministrations. Now, he hoped, by a proposal 



180 MR. henchman's ministry. 

so extraordinary as tliat of extra sermons bj 
himself, to allay all desire for other preachers. 
The parish responded to his offer, with a vote 
of thanks, and a promise to attend his lectures, 
whenever " he sees cause to commence " them ; 
intimating a doubt whether he would commence, 
and whether much good was to be expected 
from them if ho did. And upon this, October 
17, 1741, they voted, — 

" The parish being sensible that by the bless- 
ing of God a goodly number of young people, 
and others are at this time under great concern 
about their future state, and desirous to have the 
word of God preached to them, not only on the 
Lord's day, but at other proper times, — and 
whereas a number of reverend and worthy 
ministers have already come to us in the fulness 
of the gospel of Christ, but, through mistake 
and misunderstanding of things, some of them 
have been obliged to preach in private houses, 
where one half that would gladly have heard 
the word could not be accommodated, — and 
whereas the aforesaid ministers, as well as many 
others of our neighboring ministers, have mani- 
fested their readiness to give what Christian aid 
they can, by preaching among us, and the parish 



MR. henchman's ministry. 181 

are still desirous of hearing any of tlie neighbor- 
ing ministers in the meeting house, when the 
Rev. Mr. Henchman is willing they should, — 
therefore voted, that whenever any of the afore- 
said ministers shall come into this part of the 
parish in order to preach the gospel, the com- 
mittee shall give orders to the sexton for the 
timely ringmg of the bell and opening the 
doors, — Rev. Mr. Henchman being seasonably 
informed of it." 

This carries a semblance of preserving the 
pastor's right of control, under the phrase, " Mr. 
Henchman being willing." But it provides for 
opening the house whether he is willing or not. 
It was a disorderly procedure, which they prob- 
ably justified to themselves on the ground of 
the pastor's delinquency and abuse of power. It 
was not the orderly course for redress. Having 
intrusted the pastor's work to his hand, they 
should have left it there till they saw cause to 
take it out of his hands. 

The orderly course would have been to have pro- 
cured his dismission, on charges brought against 
him. There was, evidently, sufficient ground for 
his dismission, and enough of religious principle 
in the parish at that time to have carried it. 
16 



182 MR. henchman's ministry. 

And if tliey had carried it, they would have 
saved the church from what she afterwards 
experienced. But by taking an irregular course, 
acknowledging him as their pastor, and taking 
a part of the pastor's work out of his hands, 
they perhaps secured their immediate object, but 
lost the main result. They secured liberty for 
others to preach against the pastor's will, but 
they left him on the ground to tread out and 
destroy all the fruits of the preaching. They 
loft him, hater of the revivals as he was, to work 
against them. He would not be at all likely to 
gather in and promote the spiritual growth of 
the converts. And a natural result was, that 
that revival brought comparatively little strength 
to the church ; though, doubtless, it was one 
means, under God, of saving it from entire 
extinction. 

But we sec not how to reconcile this action 
of the parish with some of the traditions pre- 
served in Lewis's History. One of these is, that 
in 1742, on the 11th of March, Mr. Whitefield 
preached in Lynn, and some were seriously 
impressed by his preaching ; and that these 
were the first instances of the kind occurring in 
the town. But more than six months before 



MR. henchman's ministry. 183 

this the parish had testified by vote that a 
goodly number were in this condition. It is 
possible that there is some mistake in dates. 
Then, if in 1741 the parish voted to open the 
house to such ministers as Mr. Whitefield was, 
we see not how it consists with another record 
in Lewis's History. This record purports that 
in 1745 " Mr. Whitefield came to Lynn, on the 
3d of July, and requested of Mr. Henchman per- 
mission to preach in his meeting house, which 
was refused. Some of the people resolved that he 
should have liberty to preach, and taking the great 
doors from Theophilus Hallowell's barn, and 
placing them on some barrels, they made a stage, 
on the eastern part of the common, from which 
he delivered his address." But our difficulty of 
reconciling the apparent discrepancy does not 
disprove the statement. For in the four years 
that intervened, Mr. Henchman might have 
regained his control of the house. 

On the excitement which followed his first re- 
sistance of Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Henchman pub- 
lished a pamphlet, setting forth the reasons of his 
opposition. This was replied to by Rev. AVil- 
liam Hobby, of Reading. To this Mr. Hench- 
man rejoined, in a pamphlet published March 



184 MR. henchman's ministry. 

28, 1745. In this it appeared that Mr. Hench- 
man was the only clergyman in this neighbor- 
hood who had written and printed in opposition 
to Mr. Whitefield's " principles and practices." 

The pamphlet contains little of substantial 
argument, but enough of bitter invective, per- 
sonal spite, sarcasm, and poorly sustained bur- 
lesque. 

It is sad for the reputation of Mr. Henchman 
that he has left such memorials of himself. He 
has, however, here preserved, in a small compass, 
much of what was alleged against Whitefield's 
opponents, and some severe hints against him- 
self. 

This instance of the parish voting to open 
their house against the will of their pastor, when 
they should have taken regular steps for his dis- 
mission, reveals, in a strong light, the necessity 
of taking, in cases of difliculty, only the regular 
course. This was one of the crises in the history 
of this church. If, then, the people had taken 
the proper steps to secure a faithful ministry, the 
whole after history of this church might have 
been changed. On a matter so small as an 
irregular proceeding to right a wrong, disaster 
was procured for successive generations. 



These events happened about the middle of 
Mr. Henchman's ministry. Until a few years be- 
fore, there was no indication of any coldness 
between the minister and people. Indeed, the 
records show not a little of the people's cordial 
respect towards him. The necessity of voting 
from year to year how much to give him, to 
make up for the depreciation of the currency, 
served as a thermometer of the general feeling. 
In the early years connected with these votes, 
there are often expressions about giving him a 
" handsome support." In later years there are 
no such flourishes of the pen. After the contro- 
versy about Whitefield, the relations of minister 
and people were fatally marred. The contest, 
it is true, was about money. But that it had its 
origin in dissatisfaction on other grounds, is 
fully shown by the records. In 1738 the parish 
voted — "Whereas the parish apprehend that 
our minister's conduct in the ministry has been 
for some time past disagreeable to the parish, 
wherefore voted, that when the parish can be 
well assured that he will alter his conduct 
wherein it has been amiss, and do for us as the 
generality of ministers do for their people, anc] 
as he himself did for us wjicn he was fi^st settled, 



186 MR. henchman's ministry. 

then the parish will give him a handsome sup- 
port." 

This comes in as a preface to the whole conflict, 
and reveals its cause. It is as clear as if it said, 
in so many words, that all the differences which 
we have about money, and which we are likely 
to have, grow out of dissatisfaction with your 
ministry. Fortunately for the interpretation in- 
volved, this vote comes soon after the commence- 
ment of the difficulties about salary. This vote 
was passed three years before Mr. Whitefield 
came here. So that neither the religious move- 
ment in Lynn nor the dissatisfaction with Mr. 
Henchman was caused by Mr. Whitefield. The 
revival which commenced in Northampton, un- 
der the preaching of Edwards, had pervaded 
the country. Every where the minds of the 
people were more or less moved. The people 
of Lynn partook of the general movement, and 
hence their dissatisfaction with their minister 
opposing it. If Mr. Henchman's opposition had 
been simply directed against Mr. Whitefield, he 
might have had plausible grounds for it. For 
many things in Whitefield's course were ques- 
tioned by good men — by men no less than Ed- 
wards, who did not cooperate with Whitefield. 



MR. henchman's ministry. 187 

But Henchman's opposition to the revival began 
before any question was raised about Wliitefield 
and his itinerancy. And this opposition clearly 
showed him opposed to vital religion, and the 
doctrines which were preached in that revival. 
He sympathized, as his pamphlet shows, with 
Dr. Chauncey, w^hom he quoted with approba- 
tion, and who was the champion and exponent 
of the liberal party, as it then was — and who, in 
truth, was the patriarch of our Unitarianism. 
Mr. Henchman was, doubtless, like a large class 
of ministers in his time, who were called Ar- 
minians, — having the form of godliness, but de- 
nying the power thereof, — making a great ac- 
count of a Puritan ancestry, and a determined 
opposition to Puritan doctrines, spirit, and life — 
sticklers for forms and institutions established 
by Puritans, even to the teaching of the Assem- 
bly's Catechism, when they preached doctrines 
contrary to it ; careful to keep in the back- 
ground those vitll points of truth which sustain 
the work of conversion. The writings of Ed- 
wards, by the prevalent views which he contro- 
verts, clearly show what were the views of this 
class of ministers who were his opponents. The 
course of decline from Puritan truth, which has 



188 MR. henchman's ministry. 

since found its ne plus ultra in Unitarianism, 
was then in its first stages. Our ministers then 
stood in two classes, — very distinct to a dis- 
criminating mind, but not to the common appre- 
hension of the people, — till the test of the Great 
Awakening was applied, and then it was found 
that their difference touched the essentials and 
life of religion. Mr. Henchman's views and 
party associations were such, that if he had 
lived till Unitarianism was developed, he would 
not have failed to be a Unitarian. 

As to the barrenness of his ministry, we have 
some evidence. He had labored here forty 
years — had a flourishing church and society 
when he commenced, and at the close of his life 
he left but eighteen male members in the church, 
two of whom were slaves. And judging him by 
the company which he kept, we have no reason 
to think that he insisted on regenerate character 
as a condition of membership in the church — 
though that was not formally dispensed with till 
the next pastorate. But if his church, after 
forty years' labor, and those forty years embra- 
cing the period of the Great Awakening, was so 
small, and some of these not even professing re- 
generation, the fruits of his ministry were few. 



MR. HENCHMAN'S MINISTRY. 189 

When liis ministry commenced, none thouglit 
liim to have made any serious departure from 
the Puritan faith. Unless he was unlike others 
of his class, he claimed to be orthodox, in the 
Puritan sense — varying from the standards 
only in unimportant matters, but making very 
important improvements in the mode of stating 
the doctrines. If the people heard any thing 
of the differences among ministers, they thought 
it to be only a dispute about words. These 
Arminian ministers had the address to stigma- 
tize the adherents to the Puritan faith and the 
friends of revivals as New Lights — a term which 
involved both a falsehood and a reproach. Thus 
they carried the representation that that form of 
teaching which Avas consuming the piety of the 
church, and bringing in still greater errors, was 
the original teaching of the Puritans. The 
people were, as they too often are, averse to dis- 
criminating ; were too charitable to think that 
any ministers professing orthodoxy could hold 
serious errors ; and thought that so little error 
might be safely tolerated. Yet these slightly 
erroneous ministers, these improvers of theology, 
were the authors of a heresy that blotted out 
for us a hundred churches. 



190 MR. henchman's ministry. 

Take 3^oiir stand at any point in the history 
of this church during its decline, and contem- 
plate the disasters that came in, — see how her 
gold had become dim, and her most fine gold 
changed, — and you may make the first minister 
who began the defection, in an important sense, 
responsible for all. He made, it seemed, only a 
small departure from the standards, — too small 
for many to see it, — and yet it was great enough 
to be the head spring of immense mischiefs. In 
the corruption of public morals, in the genera- 
tion of pernicious errors which have sprung up 
here as in a hotbed, this whole community, in 
one way and another, has felt the curse of that 
first step in departing from the truth. 

Mark the contrast between the beginning and 
the end of that pastorate. At its beginning 
there was a strong, united, and devoted church. 
At the end of a forty years' ministry there was 
but a miserable remnant of a church. The 
minister's heart and purpose were set against the 
truth, and, by consequence, against vital religion 
in the church. Consciously or unconsciously, 
the main force of his endeavor was to undo the 
the very work which Christ's ministers are sent 
to do. By stealthy processes, this was done for 



MR. henchman's ministry. 191 

tlie first half of his ministry. Then he and the 
vital force of the church came into open con- 
flict. And in that conflict he had a fearful tri- 
umph. He left the church, at his death, with as 
little signs of life as he could wish. The daugh- 
ter of Zion sat in the dust. 



CHAPTER Vi. 

Further Sketch of Mr. Henchman's History. — His 
Lawsuit with the Parish. — His Death. — Forma- 
tion OF the West End Parish. — Settlement of Mr. 
Treadwell. — Change of Terms of Admission to 
Communion. — Half Way Covenant. — Ministers in 
the Revolutionary War. — Mr. Treadwell's Dis- 
mission. — Settlement of Mr. Parsons. — Conflicts 
with him. — Secession of Methodists. 

Mr. Henchman is said to have been very 
aifable ia his manners ; and in his personal in- 
tercourse with Mr. Whitefield he is said to have 
treated him with great kindness and respect. 
He was very young when he settled in this 
place — only twenty years of age. He graduated 
at Cambridge when he was only seventeen. He 
was the son of Nathaniel Henchman, a deacon 
of one of the churches in Boston, who was by 
trade a bookbinder. The house which Mr. Hench- 
man occupied was on the site of that now in 
building by Andrews Breed, Esq., the mayor of 
Lynn. After filling out a ministry of forty-one 
years, he died, December 23. The storm which 

(192) 



193 

came up while his funeral was in atlendance, 
and which prevented his burial on the day ap- 
pointed, even though the corpse had been carried 
to the meeting house, was in keeping with the 
tedious storm of the moral elements in which his 
sun went down. 

We have seen that his opposition to vital re- 
ligion disaffected his people, and involved them 
in a controversy of twenty-five years about his 
salary. The controversy began in the spirit and 
ended in the flesh. The great point on which it 
was commenced was that of vital godliness — 
whether that should be sustained or crushed. 
In this he triumphed. In the history of that 
controversy, we have the spectacle of a professed 
minister of Christ employing the force of his 
position and of&ce to undo the work which his 
predecessors had done, and lay waste the vine- 
yard which he came to cultivate. That work 
of twenty-five years was done with fearful effi- 
ciency in exterminating the remnants of spiritual 
religion in the church. The first parish vote, 
which informs us of the existence of a contro- 
versy, is one which tells him, that if he will be a 
better minister he shall be better paid. Upon 
that vote a committee was sent to notify him of 
17 



194 MR. henchman's ministry. 

the particular matters of complaint. Six months 
after, an answer to this vote was made in parish 
meeting, but no action was taken upon it. The 
next year a committee was sent to him to inquire 
what sum would satisfy his claims as to arrears. 
And he answered, two hundred and sixty pounds ; 
and by a large majority it was voted not to give 
it. It was voted that they would give him a free 
contribution, to meet deficiencies of the last two 
years, if he would discharge them all. This was 
accepted, and the debt discharged. In 1745, 
the year of Mr. Whitefield's second visit, a meet- 
ing was called to see if the parish would take 
any measures to accommodate the unhappy dif- 
ferences between them and their minister. A 
committee was appointed to discourse with him. 
But what came of the discourse we are not in- 
formed. Six years later, he sent a memorial to 
the parish. A committee was appointed to con- 
sider and report upon it. The committee re- 
ported an answer, which was adopted. The next 
year a committee was appointed "to discourse 
with him with respect to the uneasiness between 
him and the parish, and devise measures to make 
him and the parish easy." The next year he 
read to the parish an address, and they voted 



MR. henchman's ministry. 195 

not to receive it. The next year a committee 
was appointed to see if they could prevail with 
him to take his salary and discharge the parish ; 
if otherwise, to know if he will agree to dissolve 
his connection with them. This measure pro- 
duced no fruit. In 1755 a committee was sent 
to him to propose to refer the matters in dispute 
for the five years back to disinterested men, 
mutually chosen, and also to desire him to ex- 
plain some parts of his address. This proposal 
came to nothing. The next year, in parish meet- 
ing, a vote was put " to see if the parish would 
comply with any of his twelve proposals," and 
decided in the negative. Then a vote was 
passed to make no proposals to him. At the 
parish meeting a committee was raised to con- 
sider two proposals made by him. In 1756 the 
parish appointed agents " to defend them against 
an action of trespass upon the case lately com- 
menced by Rev. Nathaniel Henchman, to be 
tried at the Superior Court in Salem." The 
only remaining record of the quarrel bears date 
four years later, in 17 GO. This record says, that 
a committee was appointed to consider and re- 
port upon an address of Mr. Henchman's ; that 
they reported, and their report was accepted. 



196 MR. henchman's ministry. 

The next year after tliis address, that is, Decem- 
ber 23, 1761, Mr. Henchman died. In June fol- 
lowing, the parish adjusted accounts with his 
heirs, paying them eighty-four pounds. 

This is one of the most persevering of parish 
quarrels on record, and it was carried nearer to 
the grave than was desirable. What sadder 
spectacle could be exhibited, than that of a 
minister of Christ, set to watch for souls, as 
they that must give account, spending a quarter 
of a century in one ceaseless quarrel about his 
salary ; and a part of the time carrying on a 
lawsuit with the people to whom he professed 
every Sabbath to be preaching the gospel ! No 
clearer evidence is wanted to prove that he was 
a stranger to tlie spirit of the gospel. 

Several noteworthy events affecting the parish 
took place during Mr. Henchman's ministry. 
The next year after his settlement, that is, in 
1721, the parish ceased to have its business done 
in town meeting. The separation was effected 
on this wise : At a town meeting there was an 
adjournment of town business for half an hour, 
to give the members of the parish time for pre- 
liminary action. Then, in a meeting ordered by 
those of the selectmen belonging to the parish, 



MR. HENCHMAN^S MINISTRY. 197 

a vote of members of the parish was passed, or- 
dering Richard Johnson and Theophilus Biirrill 
to call a parish meeting for organizing. The 
meeting was called, and a hundred voters at- 
tended, and unanimously concurred in the pro- 
ceedings. In 1631 the first movement was 
made towards setting off the West End, now 
Saugus, into a separate parish. Thomas Cheever 
and others first petitioned to be thus set off. 
The parish refused ; the petitioners carried their 
request to the General Court. The parish ap- 
pointed a committee to make answer to it before 
the court. A committee of the General Court 
had a meeting at the house of Richard Mower, 
innholder, in Lynn, to hear the matter debated. 
The court did not fully grant the request. But 
they granted the West End people liberty to sus- 
tain separate worship, by being taxed in a com- 
mon tax with the old parish, and receiving from 
the proceeds of the tax thirty-five out of one hun- 
dred and eighty pounds. The West End parish 
had separate worship eight years on this basis, 
when again they petitioned the old parish to be 
set off, and had their petition granted on con- 
dition that the united tax should cease. But 
there was still a difficulty in the way. For, two 
17* 



198 MR. treadwell's ministry. 

years later, the old parish had another meeting, 
and appointed a committee to make answer to 
Thomas Cheever and others' petition to be set off 
in a distinct parish ; so that the separation was 
not accomplished as late as 1743. 

After the decease of Mr. Henchman, the church 
was without a pastor about fourteen months. 
Then Rev. John Treadwell was ordained, 
March 2, 1763. A meeting of the church a 
little more than a month after his ordination 
was recorded, and that is the earliest record of 
the church now extant. And the action of the 
church there recorded is remarkable for being 
a step downwards. On the settlement of a new 
pastor, instead of taking measures to elevate 
their course, and increase their spiritual effi- 
ciency, the church vote to abandon one of the 
important usages established by the Puritans, on 
the basis of the Bible, for sustaining the purity 
and life of the church. The vote alluded to was 
passed April 13, 1768, as follows :— 

"Voted, 1. That in the case of admitting 
members into full communion, although the 
church is far from discouraging a relation of 
Christian experience, but would gladly receive 
one, whenever offered, yet they would not insist 



MR. TREADWELL'S MINISTRY. 199 

upon it ; but instead of this, that they who desire 
admission into the church should be received 
upon their consenting to a confession of faith 
which the church have approved and fixed 
upon. 

" Voted, 2. That none be allowed the privilege 
of baptism for their children, but such as are 
members of the church, without their personal 
owning of the covenant." Here were two im- 
portant steps taken — first, a virtual sanction 
of admitting members without their giving evi- 
dence of regenerate character. For such, in 
the technical language of the times, was the 
meaning of " relating experience." And sec- 
ondly, an adoption of what was called the half 
way covenant, or the baptism of the church's 
grandchildren. For the rule implies that per- 
sons not members of the church may have their 
children baptized on their owning the covenant. 
From the first the practice of the churches dif- 
fered as to the degree of publicity attached to the 
relation of experience. In some cases it was 
required to be before the church ; in others it 
was to be written, and read to the church ; in 
others it was only given to officers of the 
church. But this vote allows members to come 



200 



into the church without any thing of the kind, 
or without any evidence or pretence of regen- 
eration. The vote is an abandonment of a pre- 
viously existing usage, and it involves a radical 
change of the church constitution, yea, a remo- 
val of the main article of its constitution — that 
article which is necessary to constitute the 
church a body of professing Christians. As no 
unregenerate man is, properly speaking, a Chris- 
tian, the church that has ceased to make a 
profession of regenerate character a condition 
of membership has ceased to profess themselves 
Christians. 

This question, whether church members should 
profess to be Christians, was that on wliich 
Edwards came to a rupture with his church. 
All that he insisted on was, that the candidate 
should seriously and understandingly assert his 
conviction and hope that he had undergone a 
change of heart. That was called a relation of 
experience ; and the excluding of this, or ceas- 
ing to require any thing more than a decent out- 
ward morality, was a violent blow dealt upon 
the constitution of the Puritan churches, and 
immense mischiefs followed. This departure 
from first principles began early in our churches. 



201 



It was introduced, as many evils are, by a very 
great and good man, the distinguished Solo- 
mon Stoddard, of Northampton. Through his 
great influence it vt^as widely extended, though 
against the vigorous opposition of Increase 
Mather and others. When Stoddard first intro- 
duced it, the practice was universally against it. 
But having depravity and the name of a great 
and good man on its side, the leaven gradually 
extended, while the churches were losing their 
primitive vigor ; so that, when Edwards took a 
stand against it, it had acquired force enough to 
sweep him from his place. The introduction of 
this change of constitution in this church led 
the way to laxity of both doctrine and practice. 
The half way covenant here introduced was 
continued till into Mr. Rockward's pastorate. 
He in a sermon stated his views against it, and 
expressed his unwillingness himself to baptize 
any on that basis, or to receive any new mem- 
bers upon it ; but said that he would not stand 
in the way of those wlio had come in upon it, 
procuring the baptisms to be done by other 
ministers on an exchange with him. And in 
two, and only two, instances that was done ; 
and there ended the practice of baptizing the 



202 



cliurch's grandcliildren, wMcli had here existed 
near seventy years. 

In 1771, eight years later than the vote 
referred to, the church made a more specific 
provision for admitting members on the half 
way covenant. It was then voted that those so 
admitted should assent to the same confession 
of faith that was used in admitting members to 
full communion, and then they should adopt a 
covenant in the following form : " You like- 
wise acknowledge yourself under the bonds of 
that covenant in which you have been dedicated 
to God by baptism — the great requirements of 
which are repentance towards God, and faith in 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and a life of obedience to 
the gospel. With these requirements, depend- 
ing on the grace of God, and in a course of 
diligent seeking him, you promise to endeavor 
a hearty compliance. Particularly, you promise 
to maintain the worship of God in your family, 
and to bring up your children in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord." 

Now, Avhatever doctrine was contained in the 
confession of faith, this covenant imbodied the 
gist of Arminianism. The person taking the 
covenant is supposed to be unregenerate, and is 



MR. TREADWELL'S MINISTRY. 203 

made in a covenant with God to promise to 
endeavor to repent and believe. That is, he is 
taught that there is a virtue and an acceptableness 
in his covenanting with God, while in unregen- 
eracy, and promising with unregenerate disposi- 
tions, that he will hereafter repent. It is of 
course assumed that there are duties to be done 
before the first duty of repentance and faith, 
which are stepping stones to it. And an unre- 
generate person is made to pledge himself that 
he will do the duties that lead on to repentance 
and faith. Here is imbodied, to be taught by 
church authority, an error which has been the 
ruin of thousands. And it is reasonable to con- 
clude that the doctrine which was here taught 
in the church covenant was also taught from 
the pulpit. Hence the evidence is conclusive, 
that Mr. TreadwelFs teaching coincided with 
the Arminian scheme ; though we are happy to 
have learned that he, after his dismission, em- 
braced more scriptural views, and was, near the 
close of his life, zealous in support of the doc- 
trines of grace. 

Mr. Treadwell was dismissed in 1782 having 
been pastor of the church about nineteen years. 
Except in the case of the release of Mr. Cob- 



204 MR. treadwell's ministry. 

bett, a colleague pastor, to accept a call to Ips- 
wich, this was the first instance in which the 
church had dismissed one of her pastors. Thus 
for one hundred and fifty years she never, prop- 
erly speaking, dismissed a pastor. Since that 
time, however, for over seventy years, she has 
not had a pastor that died while in office. The 
aggregate time of the first three pastorates was 
one hundred and twenty-five years ; and that 
of the next six was only fifty-four. The last six 
have only averaged nine years each ; the first 
three averaged forty-one each. 

Aside from the consequences of the mischiefs 
done to the church in the ministry of Mr. Hench- 
man, and the tendencies thereby set in the 
downward direction, there were external causes, 
serving to depress religion in the time of Mr. 
Treadwell's ministry. That was the time of the 
revolutionary war. This war brought in a state 
of things which was most disastrous to all our 
churches. The whole mind of ministers and 
people was absorbed in the struggle, which 
could hardly have been more exciting if the life 
of every person depended on the issue. And 
that war, like all others, brought in with it a 
rush of demoralizing elements. And the evil 



MR. TREAD well's MINISTRY. 205 

would naturally press heavier here, where the 
work of moral ruin was previously in progress. 
If the minister had been ever so sound, he would 
have found it difficult to have stayed the course 
of declension at that time. When members of 
the congregation were pouring forth their blood 
at Lexington and Bunker Hill, the proper work 
of the ministry could have little place. For the 
people of Lynn were not behind the rest in their 
zeal in this cause. Intelligence of the com- 
mencement of the war came upon the people of 
Lynn as a midnight cry. By night the report 
came to Lynn that the British troops were 
marching from Boston towards Concord, and 
many rushed forth on the instant, without wait- 
ing to be organized — were on the ground in 
season to have their share in the battle of Lex- 
ington, in which four of the Lynn delegation 
sacrificed their lives. "When the war had begun 
in earnest, and the town chose a committee of 
safety to conduct the war measures on behalf of 
the town, the ministers of the two parishes, 
Messrs. Trcadwell and Roby, and Deacon Mans- 
field, constituted that committee. Mr. Lewis 
tells us that Mr. Treadwell, always foremost in 
patriotic proceedings, appeared on the Sabbath 
18 



206 



in the pulpit with a loaded musket, and with a 
cartridge box under one arm and a sermon under 
the other. This reveals what must have been 
the occupation of the public mind, and how little 
opportunity there was for the ministry to wield 
its spiritual weapons when necessitated to bear 
so close upon it those which were carnal. Yet 
most of the time of his ministry was taken up 
either with the war or with its preliminary agi- 
tations. 

The negotiations preliminary to his settle- 
ment here were protracted and complex. In 
July, 1761, the parish unanimously concurred 
with the church in giving him a call, voting him 
a salary of one hundred pounds, and a settle- 
ment of two hundred and the use of the par- 
sonage lands. He did not like the form in 
which the vote was put ; so he proposed some 
modifications and conditions that seemed impor- 
tant to him, but which are not easy now to be 
understood. And before the matter was settled 
to his mind there were eight successive meetings, 
in a series extending over six months ; and it 
would require a keen inspection to see any im- 
portant difference between the first vote and 
the last. 



MR. TREA DWELL 'S MINISTRY. 207 

Nothing appears in tlie records to show any 
want of harmony in his relations with the 
people till he had been here about ten years, 
and till the necessity of voting money to supply 
deficiencies of salary, coming from the deprecia- 
tion of paper money, occasioned differences. In 
1781 a dispute had arisen on a claim of his for 
arrearages for two previous years. The parish 
invited him to attend their meeting and confer 
with them about it. This he refused. He re- 
quested them to build a parsonage, and they 
refused. The next year he read a memorial to 
the parish, setting forth his claims upon them, 
and also a paper to the church, called his griev- 
ances. About this time he seems to have dis- 
continued his ministry, and in March, 1782, 
the parish sent to him a committee to inquire 
whether he considered his pastoral relation as 
dissolved ; and he replied that he did not 
know. They inquired what measures he would 
take to dissolve it, and he gave no answer. 
Afterwards, in March, a committee was sent to 
him to see on what terms he would be dismissed, 
and he gave no definite answer. Upon this the 
parish assumed that the pulpit was vacant, and 
raised a committee to supply it. In January 



208 MR. 

after, a committee was raised to confer with him 
about the disputed arrears of salary in the pre- 
vious years, and they reported that his claim 
was groundless. The parish then voted to pay 
his salary till he had ceased to preach. And in 
that informal manner the relation was ter- 
minated. 

After Mr. Tread well's dismission, the church 
was vacant about two years. Rev. Obadiah 
Parsons was installed February 4, 1784. We 
are prepared to see that at this time the church 
was exceedingly reduced, both in numbers and 
spiritual character. When Mr. Treadwell was 
settled, the church had only eighteen male mem- 
bers. In the nineteen years of his ministry, a 
considerable portion of these must have died 
or have been dismissed, and only fourteen male 
members were admitted during that time. Those 
brought into the church under such influences 
as we have seen prevailing in those times could 
have little attachment to its principles and little 
of a healthy zeal for religion. If they had re- 
generate character, it must have been for the 
most part under a cloud. The deacons of the 
church under Mr. Parsons's administration were 
William Farrington and Theophilus Hallowell. 



MR. PARSONS'S MINISTRY. 209 

How reliable they were is known from the fact 
of their desertion of the church in the hour of 
its greatest peril, and carrying with them the 
property of the clmrch, and refusing to restore 
it till compelled by process of law. They might 
have been pious men, but their piety was not in 
lively exercise at that time. Nor was their 
piety formed on the basis of the doctrines of 
grace. For if it had been, they would not have 
abandoned them for opposite views. There is 
one fact bearing on this subject that ought to be 
named, and that is, that it was very difficult to 
find men that would serve as deacons when these 
deacons came into office. The church had two 
vacancies to fill, and they chose Samuel Burrill 
and Benjamin Johnson — these declined ; then 
"William Farrington and Colonel Mansfield— these 
declined ;'then John Burrill — and he declined. 
Finally the office was accepted by Theophilus 
Hallowell and William Farrington, whose of- 
ficial career was somewhat distinguished. This 
office would hardly have been found thus asking 
charity had it not been for the low condition of 
the church. Three of the men at this time elect- 
ed to the office were afterwards leaders in the 
secession. They concurred in introducing Mr. 
18* 



210 MR. PARSONS'S MINISTRY. 

Parsons. And, from their position, it especially 
belonged to them to take the lead in his dismis- 
sion, when they found him to be an injury. Mr. 
Benjamin Johnson, who introduced Jesse Lee, 
the first Methodist preacher here, was one of 
two who constituted the committee for supply- 
ing the pulpit during the interval between Mr. 
Treadwell's ministry and Mr. Parsons's. The 
suspicions as to Mr. Parsons's habits were then 
not unknown ; for he had been dismissed from 
Gloucester by a council, which had acted on 
such suspicions. Though the council dismissed 
him with clean papers, they failed to clear all 
suspicions from the public mind. Tliere is reason 
to believe that, while the parish believed him to 
be innocent of the matter of the accusations, 
there were some individuals who were willing 
to see the society broken up, by settling a minis- 
ter whose future developments would be likely 
to effect that result. Some years ago, an aged 
member of this church, now dead, (David Walk- 
er,) informed me that, in his boyhood, he heard 
between two neighbors living in Market Street 
a conversation to this effect : " Are you going 
to get that Parsons to preach here ? " " Yes." 
" Don't you know that he is an adulterer ? " 



MR. PARSON S'S MINISTRY. 211 

*' Yes ; and that is one motive which I have in 
getting him." 

Now, taking this into view, with the fact 
that some persons here had, according to Mr. 
Stevens's History, formed a predilection for 
Methodist preaching more than ten years before 
this time, it might seem that there was on the 
part of some a willingness to see this church go 
to ruin, to make way for another. And this 
derives probability from the fact that those who 
had been foremost in the settlement of Mr. Par- 
sons took no part in the work of relieving the 
church of the scandal. But when that subject 
came under agitation, they led off the secession. 
The person who took the lead in bringing formal 
charges against the pastor was John Carnes, 
one whose name does not appear in the proceed- 
ings for his settlement. 

In the early part of Mr. Parsons's ministry, an 
effort was made by the parish to repair its ex- 
ternal and secular interests. Up to this time 
there was no parsonage house. Mr. Treadwell 
had made proposals to encourage the building 
of one, but the parish refused to do it. But now 
it was undertaken, and carried through in 1787. 
But there was great and long-continued difficulty 



212 

in collecting the taxes occasioned by the build- 
ing. 

Mr. Parsons was called to settle here in 1783. 
He had preached here as a candidate. But be- 
fore the church had on their part voted to give 
him a call, the parish, October 16, 1783, ap- 
pointed a committee to apply to the clerk of the 
council that had advised the dismission of Mr. 
Parsons from his former charge in Gloucester, 
for a copy of the result of council. It is clear 
from this that suspicions were afloat, and though 
the council had not condemned him, the public 
mind was not satisfied. They procured a copy 
of the result of council, and on this the parish 
voted, that from what they had heard of Mr. 
Parson s's character, they were satisfied, and ap- 
proved of his preaching here. They also voted 
to move the church to act in the matter of giv- 
ing him a call. The church gave the call. The 
parish was notified to meet to act on the same 
subject. They met. But in the mean time a new 
breeze had crossed their path, affecting the repu- 
tation of their candidate. So, instead of voting 
the call, they appointed a committee " to inquire 
further into the Rev. Mr. Parsons's char- 
acter." After a week's inquiry, at an adjourned 



MR. PARSONS'S MINISTRY. 213 

meeting, the parish seem to have got satisfaction. 
So they gave him a call. He was accordingly 
installed. 

But it came out afterwards, that the council, 
whose result at his former dismission had satis- 
fied the people, had slightly healed the wound 
upon his character. For it broke out anew. We 
know not how soon. Four years after his in- 
stallation we find the parish engaged in build- 
ing a parsonage, which we think they could not 
have undertaken if they at that time had not a 
general confidence in him. But three years 
later, that is, in 1790, we find the people in a 
sad condition, John Carnes and others had 
tabled charges before the church affecting the 
moral character of their minister. A meeting 
of the parish was called in that year to see what 
measures the parish would take in vindication of 
the Eev. Mr. Parsons's character against certain 
charges exhibited by John Carnes and others. 
This meeting voted to procure a copy of the 
charges, and to choose a committee to act with 
the church in making full inquiry into the arti- 
cles of grievance. The committee reported, but 
as to the nature of the report we have no infor- 
mation. The next step taken by the parish is 



214 MR. PARSONS'S MINISTRY. 

quite remarkable. They "voted that it is the 
sense of this parish that the welfare of the 
parish requires that all proceedings with regard 
to the pastor should utterly cease." This was a 
vote which, passed in such circumstances, after 
such charges had been formally brought and not 
cleared, would have ruined the reputation of an 
innocent man, and which never would have been 
passed but from a consciousness that their pas- 
tor's character was incapable of defence. This 
vote of the parish was laid before the church as 
a sort of injunction against any further proceed- 
ings by them. There were evidently two parties 
in the parish ; the one wishing for a full investi- 
gation as a means of throwing off the incubus, 
and the other determined to sustain the minister 
in spite of his delinquencies. One party seemed 
to have prevailed when an investigation was 
decided on, and the other when it was voted to 
hush up the matter. The church made no answer 
to the parish's injunction. At the next meeting 
the parish chose a committee to apply to the 
church for an answer. But no answer appears 
on the records. 

The next record is unintelligible. It is to the 
effect that at an adjourned meeting the parish 



MR. PARSONS'S MINISTRY. 215 

chose a committee of nine persons to wait on 
the council. From this it might appear that the 
church, instead of being hushed, had pressed the 
matter to a hearing before a council, and that 
this is a vote of the parish in concurrence. Here 
the loss of the church records leaves us in the 
dark. A council might have been resolved on, 
and Mr. Parsons might have prevented it. The 
next action of the parish on the subject would seem 
to indicate that something of the kind had taken 
place. For it was called as with an expectation 
of closing accounts with the pastor. The notifi- 
cation calls the parish to sec if they will give 
Mr. Parsons one hundred and ten pounds to dis- 
solve his relation ; and if they will not do that, 
to see whether they will divide the parish prop- 
erty between the friends and the opponents of 
Mr. Parsons ; or, if they will not do that, to see 
if the parish will consent to Mr. Parsons's con- 
tinuing in the ministry, provided his friends will 
maintain him ; and if they will do neither, to 
take measures to bring about his dismission. 
This meeting was evidently called at the instance 
of Mr. Parsons's friends. But at the meeting his 
opponents appear to have been in the majority. 
John Carnes was chosen moderator, and all the 



216 



propositions of the call were voted down. In a 
week after this there came down upon the parish 
an avalanche. A list of one hundred and eight 
names was handed in, indicating that so many- 
had become members of a Methodist society, 
and ceased to be taxable to the first parish. 
This occurred in May, 1791, which was about 
six months after Jesse Lee commenced his 
operations here. So that while these proceed- 
ings for and against the dismission of Mr. Par- 
sons were going on in the parish, the springs of 
Methodism here were gushing forth, and some of 
the former leading men of the parish were now 
leading in r^nother direction. They had intro- 
duced a consuming fire, and escaped in the light of 
it. For the months then passing, the mind of this 
community was deeply agitated. All that was 
exciting in the first movements for the forming 
of the Methodist society, and in connection with 
the conflict in the old parish, was in process 
together. 

The next parish meeting was called " to adopt 
such measures as the present unhappy state of 
the parish called for ; '^ and Mr. Parsons was 
invited to attend the meeting, but refused. At 
this meeting it was "voted that the contract 



MR. PARSONS'S MINISTRY. 217 

between Mr. Parsons and the parish ought to be 
dissolved. A committee of nine persons was 
sent to him to see on what terms he would con- 
sent to a dissolution. This negotiation ended 
in a written document drawn up between the 
parties, by which the dissolution was effected, 
February 22, 1792. 

Being dismissed from the parish, he took no 
care to pass the forms of dismission from the 
church. So he left them, taking with him his 
church records, if he ever made any. And when 
the church sought his concurrence in measures 
for his dismission, he maintained a sullen silence. 
At a church meeting, June 1, 1792, it was voted 
that it was desirable that the pastoral relation 
should be dissolved as soon as it conveniently 
could be. A copy of the vote was sent to Mr. 
Parsons by Colonel Mansfield. It was also 
voted that, if he be dissatisfied with this proceed- 
ing, the church are ready to join with him in a 
council. At the next meeting the messenger 
reported that Mr. Parsons was out of town on a 
journey, and could not be seen. The meeting 
was adjourned for another opportunity. They 
met again, and Mr. Parsons had contrived to 
dodge the messenger again. So they ordered 
19 



218 MR. 

still another attempt to notify him. The un- 
avoidable hinderances of the messenger had 
prevented the notification being effected. The 
church adjourned once more, and Mr. Parsons 
was again out of the way. Still the church 
determined to do nothing rashly, and thought it 
best to wait a little longer, though they supposed 
that he was aware of their action. They ad- 
journed once more, and then, at their adjourned 
meeting, they passed a vote declaring the pas- 
toral relation dissolved, at the same time declar- 
ing their readiness to refer the matter to a 
council, if he desired it. When Colonel Mans- 
field communicated this vote to Mr. Parsons, he 
merely replied, that he had nothing to say. 

Mr. Parsons's actual ministry ended at the 
time when he made terms of agreement with 
the parish to that effect. At that time he 
preached a farewell sermon. And as he regard- 
ed the Methodists as the cause of his difficulties, 
he directed the main force of his parting bene- 
dictions towards them. He is represented to 
have been a man of strong natural talents, a 
person of large frame and fine appearance, 
eminently social in his habits, but more devoted 
to his own pleasures than to the work of the 



219 



ministry. He scrupled not to take his place in 
every scene of conviviality. But in those times 
such habits might not have discredited him, had 
there been no grounds of suspicion affecting his 
chastity. 

When he left Lynn, he returned to Glouces- 
ter, and engaged in teaching — where he re- 
mained till he died, at the age of fifty-five, in the 
year 1801. He had graduated at Cambridge in 
1768, and was ordained pastor of the third 
church in Gloucester, November 11, 1772. He 
was dismissed November 15, 1779, and installed 
in Lynn in 1784. 

The ministries of Mr. Treadwell and Mr. 
Parsons, though both were depressing to the 
vitality of the church, presented strong points 
of contrast. Mr. Treadwell appears to have 
been a gentleman of spotless character. His 
records show that he was, according to his 
principles, solicitous for the welfare of the 
church. But Mr. Parsons has not so much as 
left us any records. The talents and respecta- 
bility of Mr. Treadwell may be gathered from 
the positions which he attained in civil life after 
he left the ministry. From Lynn he removed 
to Ipswich, his native place, where he was chosen 



220 



a representative to the legislature. He resided 
in Ipswich five years, and then removed to 
Salem. He also represented Salem in the legis- 
lature, and Essex county in the Senate, and also 
became a judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas. He had a son, born in Lynn, who be- 
came a physician in Salem. And a son of that 
son is now a physician of high standing there. 
In the later periods of his life, Judge Tread- 
well was an intimate friend of the senior Dr. 
"Worcester, of Salem, agreeing in sentiments with 
him, and sympathizing in his conflicts for the 
truth. 

In the time when Mr. Treadwell entered the 
ministry, very lax notions prevailed as to what 
constitutes a call to that office. And probably 
he was one of the many who entered it merely 
as a respectable profession, without that adap- 
tation of mind and inclination of heart to it 
which constitutes a call from the Holy Ghost. 
This may be inferred from his leaving the min- 
istry in the manner which he did, to devote 
himself to secular callings, without any apparent 
necessity, and without taking the trouble to 
preserve his nominal standing in the ministry 
by an orderly dismission. 



221 



Of the history of Mr. Parsons little has becu 
preserved, except what we have stated iu a pre- 
vious page, to wit, that he was settled in Glouces- 
ter in 1772, and dismissed there in 1779 ; and so 
must have been in the ministry seven years when 
he came to Lynn. After he left Lynn he went 
to Gloucester, where he lived nine years, and 
died. The maiden name of his wife, that is, 
Wigglesworth, is a name distinguished in Puri- 
tan history. 

The results of the two pastorates now under 
review give us an opportunity to compare two 
kinds of ministerial deficiency. Mr. TreadwelFs 
personal character was unimpeachable. Yet, 
for want of an exhibition of the strong points 
of evangelical truth, he failed in the production 
of life, energy, and purity in the church. As to 
Mr. Parsons's doctrines, we have no means of 
knowledge, though we have no reason to think 
them different from what had been preached 
here for sixty years before. And if they had 
been as orthodox as those of Paul, the truth 
held in unrighteousness would have availed 
little. In some respects a ministry deficient in 
moral character is worse, and in all views it 
strikes the common apprehension as more revolt- 
19* 



222 MR. PARSONS'S MINISTRY. 

ing, than one that is deficient in the only cardinal 
truths of Christianity. But the latter will work 
as irresistibly towards the destruction of vital 
religion in the church as the other. Its injury 
to public morals is not so direct, immediate, and 
sweeping. Yet even as to morals, it will work 
destruction by undermining the foundations. 

And if this be so, a people in the calling of a 
minister have as much reason to see to it that 
evangelical truth be in him, in all its length and 
breadth, rooted and grounded, as they have to 
find him blameless in morals. With good reason 
does the apostle enumerate " heresies " among the 
works of the flesh. And he gives heresies a 
high position in the climax. He says, "Now 
the works of the flesh are these — adultery, for- 
nication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, 
witchcraft, hatred, wrath, strife, seditions, her- 
esies, envyings, murders, drunkenness.'' This 
seems to be a severe handling of a sin no worse 
than teaching contrary to the truth of Christ. 
But its malignant character lies in setting aside 
of Christ and his salvation, and in its tendency 
to dissolve all obligation to Christian obedience ; 
to sap the foundations of Christian faith and 
hope, and overthrow Christian worship and 



223 



morals. It is tlms a wholesale sin. Hence tlie 
apostle tells us that " he that abideth not in the 
doctrine of Christ hath not God." So, he says, 
" If there come any unto you and bring not this 
doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither 
bid him God speed.'' 



CHAPTER VII. 

How Life was preserved amid so much Death. — 
Church reduced to five Male Members. — Sketch 
OP THE first Introduction of Methodism to Ltnn. — 
PiRST Methodism in the Country. — Lee's Itiner- 
ancy. — Carrying- off the Church Plate. — Call op 
Dr. Harris. — Methodist Appeals to ignorant Pas- 
sions. 

We have come now to a period in the history 
of this church when its few remaining members 
must have given up in despair, had it not been 
for a special Providence guiding them otherwise, 
and a purpose of God to preserve it for good in 
after times. Had not God left to us a very small 
remnant, we should have been as Sodom, blotted 
from existence. And had not that remnant been 
impelled by the providence of God to do what 
their apparent prospects showed little encour- 
agement for doing, they would have abandoned 
the enterprise in despair. The discouragements 
which met in their case were complicate and 
appalling. A secession of more than a hundred 
taxable persons had left them at once. The 

(224) 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 225 

parish was still divided, as tlie recent votes in 
relation to Mr. Parsons showed. And as to the 
church, its numbers were few, and its piety de- 
pressed. As men who live long in a pestilential 
atmosphere, though they escape death, yet have 
their life and energy greatly depressed, so 
those of the few remaining members of the 
churcli that at this time had any thing of spirit- 
ual life must have been under great disadvan- 
tages as to its development, and have had but 
little vigor of Christian character, compared 
with what they would have had in other circum- 
stances. The preservation of spiritual life at all, 
in such circumstances, was a wonder akin to 
that of life preserved in a fiery furnace. 

The methods which God took to preserve a 
remnant of spiritual vitality, in spite of so many 
causes working death, may be illustrated in the 
experience of an individual now living, whose 
conversion took place much later than this, at a 
time when the pastor of the church was a pro- 
fessed Unitarian. She was abroad on a visit, 
and under the preaching of Dr. Emmons she 
became hopefully converted. When she returned, 
she applied to the pastor for admission to the 
church. He of course had no objections ; but in 



226 INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 

discovering the change of her views connected 
with her conversion, he was not a little annoyed, 
and especially that she had adopted the doctrine 
of total depravity. He scouted it as vulgar. 
This shows the way in which some living mem- 
bers came into the church, and the life of the 
church was perpetuated by the providence of 
God in spite of the ministry employed to extin- 
guish it. Essentially what was realized in this 
case might have been in many others. In the 
intercourse of the people with other ministers, 
and from the reading of the word of God, and 
Christian books, some few would probably come 
under renewing power ; and these, coming into 
the church, were its preservation from extinc- 
tion. 

After the Methodist secession, there were only 
five male members left in the church. These 
were John Mansfield, John Carnes, John Burrill, 
Nathaniel Sargent, and Theophilus Bacheller. 
There were then twenty-one female members. 
A church of twenty-six members, all told, and 
members subject to all their disadvantages, was 
a frail body to stand in the tempest and convul- 
sions that were breaking around them. The 
Methodists were gathering in a single month 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 22T 

members enough to double theirs. What pre- 
pared the way for the introduction of Methodism 
here, and what were its results, and what were 
the practical lessons which it teaches, may come 
under more distinct notice hereafter. I must 
here confine myself to a sketch of its introduc- 
tion. It was introduced here by one of the 
leading men of the town. Mr. Benjamin John- 
son was a man of wealth and extensive business 
connections. He had taken the lead in giving 
importance to that branch of business which has 
since so predominated in Lynn. And to have 
come in under the auspices of such a person was 
a great advantage to any new enterprise. Prob- 
ably there were at that time few, if any, in Lynn 
whose name could have given the cause more 
strength. To be taken under the patronage of 
one of the fathers of the town, and set in at once 
at the head of influence, was a new experience 
for Methodism. The transition which Mr. Lee 
experienced in coming hither from Boston, when 
he was on the borders of despair, was refreshing. 
Jesse Lee was a man in whom energy, zeal, per- 
severance, and all the desirable characteristics 
of the Methodist ministry predominated. He 
had a large, commanding figure, a pleasing coun- 



228 INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 

tenance, and great affability and tact in making 
an impression favorable to himself. He was a 
native of Virginia, and commenced his ministry 
there. He came hither from the south. He 
had labored the year before in Connecticut. 
That state preceded this by one year in the re- 
ception of Methodism. About that time, the 
Arminian doctrine had become very prevalent in 
the Congregational churches there. And through 
the prevalence of this, Methodism found a way 
of access. It seems to have been effectually re- 
pelled where the ministers stood firm on the 
Puritan platform, and their churches were well 
indoctrinated, as we shall hereafter see. Take 
the city of Hartford for a specimen. The two 
Congregational churches there at that time held 
thoroughly the Calvinistic system. Methodism 
approached the place early, and made some 
encouraging beginnings there, but never got a 
permanent footing till Maffit introduced it, when 
that comet was sweeping the horizon. In one 
of the early instances in which Methodism pro- 
posed itself to Hartford, it was brought thither 
by Asbury, the first Methodist bishop. Dr. 
Strong was then the pastor of the first church. 
He was requested to grant permission for Asbury 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 229 

to preach in his house. He did it without hesi- 
tation, and gave notice on the Sabbath that 
the Eight Reverend Asbury, bishop of the 
Methodist Episcopal church in the United 
States, would preach in that house that evening. 
Moved by the sound of such imposing titles, 
and wondering what the Methodist Episcopal 
church of the United States might be, almost 
the whole city came together to hear him. 
Though Mr. Asbury might have been a very 
good man, and good preacher, he could not re- 
deem all the promises of such a prospectus, and 
the people went away with their curiosity satis- 
fied for that time. And Bishop Asbury went 
away without having done all the good that he 
would have done. 

Biit Jesse Lee was the proper father of 
Methodism in Connecticut. He commenced in 
the vicinity of Bridgeport, and succeeded in 
establishing some classes there, before he came 
hither. He transplanted the stock into New 
England, after it had had an extensive planting 
in some of the other states. It was introduced 
into New York in 1766. It had extended 
south, along the line of the Atlantic states, till 
it numbered forty- three thousand members and 
20 



230 INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 

two hundred preachers. That was the strength 
of the body when it sent a mission to the home 
of the Puritans, and laid out New England as 
so much waste ground to be recovered to Chris- 
tianity. 

And it may be pertinent here to give the 
origin of the first budding of the stock after it 
was transplanted from the old country, and set 
in American soil. I give it as related by Dr. 
Bangs, a father of Methodism, and published in 
Rupp's History of All Religions : " A few Meth- 
odist emigrants from Ireland landed in New 
York in 1766. One of them, Philip Embury, 
had been a local preacher. But finding there 
no Methodists, they attended public worship 
nowhere, and came near making shipwreck of 
faith and a good conscience. The next year 
there came over another Irish Methodist family, 
in which was a woman whose zeal was alive. 
She learned the facts of the declension of those 
that had preceded her, and found that they 
were freely mingling in the amusements of the 
world. This excited her indignation. She sud- 
denly entered the room where they were assem- 
bled, snatched from them the cards with which 
they were playing, threw them into the fire, and 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 231 

turned to Mr. Embury, and said, 'You must 
preach to us, or we shall all go to hell together.' 
He said that he had no house nor congregation. 
At length he yielded to the persuasion to 
preach in his own house to these few emigrants ; 
and this little assembly was the first Meth- 
odist church in this country, and the mother 
of all the rest. And the Methodist ministry 
here began in one who could so easily pass 
from the pulpit to the card table, and from the 
card table back to the pulpit." 

But to return to Mr. Lee. He had com- 
menced his work in Connecticut, and was seek- 
ing to get a foothold in Boston. After a labo- 
rious attempt, he was well nigh giving it up in 
despair, when he received a letter from Mr. 
Johnson, inviting him to Lynn. Mr. Johnson 
was at this time a member of the Congrega- 
tional church. But twenty years before this, he 
had at the south heard Methodist preachers, and 
was pleased with them. And contemplating the 
state of things here, with no reference to what 
had gone before, it might be supposed that a 
serious man might conclude, that the sad disease 
of the public mind might demand some reme- 
dies out of the common course. From Mr. 



232 INTRODUCTION OP METHODISM. 

Johnson being pleased with Methodist preach- 
ing enough to take the pains to call it in from 
abroad, it is probable that its doctrines were 
his doctrines ; though this was not true of all 
that seceded from the First Church on that oc- 
casion. Deacon Farrington, after some years' 
trial, left the Methodists, and came back to the 
old church where Calvinism was professed and 
encouraged in the church, however it was treated 
in the pulpit. And Deacon Hallowell never 
gave up the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, 
nor struck his surrender to the Methodist sys- 
tem of doctrines. Indeed, the earlier times of 
Methodism in Lynn were better than these. In 
the first generation of Methodists here, there 
was more of conservative element. Many of 
the leading men who then gave tone to the body 
were men of another spirit. Some of that old 
school of Methodists were on the ground when 
I came here. Elijah Downing was second to no 
one for character and influence in the Methodist 
body. Yet Elijah Downing adhered to the 
Calvinist system of doctrines till the day of his 
death. Jonathan Tuttle was not as decidedly Cal- 
vinistic as he, but his sympathies for Calvinists 
were strong, and he had more in common with 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 233 

US than most of his sect, and would very fre- 
quently be found in attendance on our preach- 
ing in preference to his own. But this is a 
digression. 

Obedient to his call, on the 14th of December, 
1790, Jesse Lee arrived at the house of Mr. 
Johnson. He says, "I got there a little after 
dark, and felt as though I was at home as soon 
as I arrived." A desire was expressed by the 
people to have a Methodist society established 
in the town before they heard him preach. So 
clear is the evidence that the way had been 
fully prepared for Methodism before the coming 
of its apostle. By three successive ministries 
preaching Arminianism, the common mind had 
imbibed those views of religion in which Meth- 
odism consists. The mass of the people, so far 
as they had any religious inclinations, were 
Methodists in all but the outward organization, 
and so prepared to seek that with the forward- 
ness which they manifested. And when Lee 
came hither to make Methodists of the people, 
he found that the work had been done for him. 
In the evening next after his arrival he preached 
the first Methodist sermon in Lynn. He said, 
" I had a good many hearers, and great freedom 
20* 



234 INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 

in preaching. I bore public testimony against 
unconditional election and reprobation." But it 
so happened that he gave his testimony against 
culprits that were not in court. For precious 
little was there of a belief of those doctrines in 
Lynn. His next sermon was at Mr. Lye's, at 
Wood End. Here too was a large assembly, 
including several Quakers. He had not met 
with a company of people for a long time that 
had so much of the appearance of Methodists. 
This is effectual testimony as to the existing 
views of the people. The house of Mr. John- 
son, where he found his first home, was in 
Market Street, on the present site of the Ex- 
change Building. The people flocked to hear 
his preaching by hundreds. In February he 
formed his first class, consisting of eight per- 
sons. A week after twenty-one were added. 
In May the number was fifty-one. At that 
time one hundred and eight persons "signed 
off" from the first parish. The first meetings 
of the society were held in the house of Mr. 
Johnson. Soon his large dwelling house proved 
insufiicient for the worshippers. Then his barn 
became their sanctuary. This stood near the 
corner of Market and Essex Streets. Here the 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 235 

gospel trumpet sounded so loud as to be beard 
at tlie distance of a mile. 

Among the persons engaged in putting for- 
ward the Methodist enterprise, next to Benja- 
min Johnson, was Enoch Mudge, the father of 
the preacher of that name. And the house of 
Mr. Mudge divided with Mr. Johnson the 
honor of the head quarters of the new phalanx. 
And that house stood on the very ground on 
which our meeting house is built. It was re- 
moved to give place to this house, and now 
stands the last in Commercial Street, next to the 
West Lynn depot. This, then, is one of the 
localities where the prayers and counsels that 
impelled the first springs of the movement were 
held ; and those Methodists whose memory went 
back, to the beginnings naturally looked on with 
sadness, when they saw that house removed to 
give place to another altar. 

Mr. Lee was allowed in some instances to 
preach in the evening in the meeting house of 
the first parish. The denying him of this privi- 
lege was one impulse, which put forward the 
building of the first Methodist meeting house. 
That house was built so as to be used for wor- 
ship in twelve days from the commencement of 



236 INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 

cutting the timber in the forest. It was not 
finished inside for a long time. It was the wish 
and ruling of Mr. Lee that the meeting house 
should be built with all possible plainness, with- 
out steeple or pews, or other ordinary features of 
meeting houses. And there is a tradition that 
when he came to Lynn on a visit, many years 
after his mission here, and saw the present 
meeting house of the first Methodist church, with 
its steeple and bell, and all the common conven- 
iences of meeting houses, he was indignant at 
the mark of degeneracy in his church, and even 
refused to preach in the new house. When that 
new house was built, the first one was removed 
from its site at the east end of the Common, and 
purchased by a company, that intended to make it 
a political reading room. It was allowed by 
vote of this parish to be set on its parsonage 
lands for a term of years. But as the war of 
1812 soon after ceased, and the political excite- 
ment declined, it was little used for that pur- 
pose. It was next purchased by an individual 
interested in promoting a Baptist society. Its 
next service was to cradle the infancy of the 
Baptist church, and our parish sold the land for 
its site as a Baptist church. Afterwards it was 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 337 

used many years as a school house. Then it came 
into the possession of the Irish Romanists, who 
are remodelling it for future centuries. It has 
attained the age of sixty-four years, and is use- 
ful as a measure of the age of Lynn Methodism. 

To the Methodist pioneers Lynn was a para- 
dise, in which they found refreshment from the 
toils and rigors of their work in less inviting 
fields. Mr. Lee's journal flashes with delight 
when he speaks of it. Bishop Asbury, when 
here on a visit, called it "the perfection of 
beauty." With a sort of prophetic impulse, in 
a case which required no spirit of prophecy, he 
said, " Here we shall make a firm stand, and 
from this central point, from Lynn, shall the 
light of Methodism and truth radiate through 
the state." Methodism never would have ac^ 
quired any thing like its present position, had it 
not been for the early encouragement which 
it found here, through the disastrous defections 
of the ministers and people from the Puritan 
faith. Even in Boston, with all the defections 
there, it found it next to impossible to make 
a beginning. And it could do nothing there 
till it had acquired a vantage ground here. 

The society formed here by Mr. Lee was, as 



238 INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 

we have seen, composed in part of the members 
of the first church. Mr. Johnson, and the two 
deacons, Farrington and Hallowell, and we 
know not how many more, especially of females, 
were members of this church. Nor did they go out 
empty. They, in one respect at least, imitated 
the Israelites' flight from Egypt. They spoiled 
the Egyptians. They took with them the com- 
munion vessels of the church, which, being 
numerous and made of solid silver, were very 
valuable. They had been mostly given to the 
church, eighty years before, by individuals whose 
names and act of gift had been engraved on the 
vessels themselves ; so that there could be no mis- 
take as to the donors' intent, that they should be 
for the perpetual use of this church alone, and not 
the personal property of individuals becoming 
members for a while, and then dividing the 
spoil. They were given by orthodox men be- 
fore Methodism had a being, and before the 
defection from the original principles began. 
Most of them bear the date of 1721, which was 
the year when Mr. Shepard's ministry closed. 
They came from men reared under his ministry, 
and as the result of the full prosperity of the 
church which his ministry produced. So that 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 239 

there was no shadow of ground to claim that 
they equitably belonged to Methodists, rearing 
altar against altar ; so that their claim to have 
the half of those vessels if the church would 
consent to divide with them, or the whole if 
they would not, was preposterous. We see not 
how they could have made it plausible to their 
own minds, except on the ground that the old 
church was dead, and they were heirs and 
administrators upon its estate. Probably they had 
something of this feeling. But in that case they 
showed an indecent haste to administer on the 
estate before the old lady had ceased to breathe. 
After the church had waded through all the 
difficulties of completing the dismission of Mr. 
Parsons, and the difficulties of ascertaining 
whether he were dismissed or not, they under- 
took another difficult work — the recovery of 
their property. They began by appointing a 
meeting of the church, and inviting the seceding 
brethren to be present to confer with them. 
The record says, that " those brethren entered 
into a very long conversation upon various mat- 
ters, and then introduced the matter of the 
plate, and proposed a division of it, or the loan 
of a part of it to their society ; and they did 



240 INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 

not incline that any other matter should be ta- 
ken up. The church put the question to them 
whether they were Congregationalists. To that 
they made no answer, but left the impression 
that they were Methodists, and determined to 
continue so." Though they were leading mem- 
bers of the Methodist society, they threatened to 
call a meeting of the Congregational church, 
and carry a majority with them, and procure a 
settlement of the question to their mind. When 
they retired from the conference, the church 
voted that " these brethren, having seceded to 
another denomination, were no longer members 
of this church." And they also voted " that 
they would proceed in a regular manner towards 
the settlement of a minister, who shall be a man 
of piety and learning," and also to prepare 
the way for the administration of the Lord's 
supper, which seems to have been intermitted 
during the confusion attending the last days of 
Mr. Parsons's ministry. A day was appointed 
for the administration of the ordinance, and Mr. 
Robey, of Saugus, was invited to administer it. 
A committee was sent to the absconding dea- 
cons for the church plate to be used on the 
occasion. But it was refused, except on condi- 



INTRODUCTION OP METHODISM. 241 

tion that they would be content to receive half 
of it. They were asked to give their answer in 
writing, but they would not do it. They said 
that they had pledged themselves to their asso- 
ciates that they would not do it. The whole 
was demanded in the name of the church, and 
was refused. The ordinance of the supper was. 
administered at the appointed time. The plato 
of the Saugus church was borrowed, and 
Messrs. Burrill and Sargent officiated as dea- 
cons. 

At an adjourned meeting in 1792, it was voted 
to commence a suit for the church plate, and 
that the parish should be invited to join with 
the church in it. It was also voted to request 
the parish to unite with the church in observing 
a day of fasting and prayer, " that they might be 
directed in the choice of a minister, who is both 
pious and learned," and also that the parish 
unite with the church in the employment of per- 
sons to preach as candidates. The parish con- 
curred in all these proposals. The fast was 
observed November 25, 1792. The public exer- 
cises were conducted by Rev. Messrs. Mottey, 
Robey, Payson, and Barnard. In July follow- 
21 



242 INTRODUCTION OP METHODISM. 

ing, the church gave a call to Thaddeus Mason 
Harris, afterwards Dr. Harris, of Dorchester, 
who had preached here some time as a candi- 
date. He declined, because he had " reason to 
expect to be equally useful and more happy in 
the undivided and undistracted town of Dor- 
chester." He was highly respectable for char- 
acter and talents, and a most zealous Unitarian, 
though even the name of Unitarianism was not 
known by the people when they called him. 
If he had been settled here, the church from 
that time forward would doubtless have been 
a Unitarian church. Here, then, was another 
point of its history, where it escaped extinction. 
The fact that the church then called a minister 
who afterwards assumed the type and name of 
Unitarian, is no proof of any intention of theirs 
to depart from the original foundations. For in 
those days those who had Unitarian tendencies 
carefully concealed them. And very few, if any, 
of the ministers had proceeded further than the 
half way house of Arminianism. Few, if any, 
denied the proper deity of Christ. And it was 
not to be expected that a church whose antece- 
dents had such connections with Pelagian or 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 243 

Arminian preaching sliould take alarm at any- 
thing in the cautious outgivings of Dr. Harris 
while in his youth. 

In about a year after the declinature of Dr. 
Harris, the church gave a call to Mr. Thomas 
C. Thacher. That was a cloudy day when 
this church voted that call : already reduced, 
as to all the elements of strength, numbers, 
piety, discrimination of doctrine, and zeal for 
the truth, she now came into a way to be still 
more reduced. She might have conceived that 
she had touched the bottom of her depressions 
when the secession took place. But the worst 
trials were yet to come. 

There seems to be a special significancy in the 
aspirations of the church, now put forth, for a 
ministry that is both pious and learned. For 
this a day of prayer was appointed. And re- 
peatedly in the record of votes is a record made 
of a purpose to secure a minister that is learned 
and pious. 

There is in this recorded determination a tacit 
answer to the claim which came in with the 
Methodist preaching — to the effect that preach- 
ers should be pious, and then it was no matter 
whether they were learned or not. In some 



244 INTRODUCTION OP METHODISM. 

instances this notion was carried so far as to 
involve the idea that the more ignorance one 
had, the better were his qualifications to preach. 
This pretence has sometimes come forth in 
forms so gross as to provoke the challenge to 
tell how much ignorance is necessary to qualify 
one to be a good minister. Justice requires us 
here to say, that Methodists have now wholly 
abandoned the appeals to ignorant passion and 
prejudice against learning in the ministry, by 
which they had so much of their first success. 
Whatever errors they once had on that subject, 
they have fully repented of, and are now zealous, 
as far as their circumstances and means will 
allow, to secure a learned ministry. Yet, while 
tracing the lines of history, we are bound to 
take notice of facts of an opposite kind, in their 
early days, — especially of a fact which was so 
material as that, — one which contributed so 
much to their success, and which was such an 
element in the agitation of the popular mind. 
Doubtless, at that time this was a great theme 
of popular disputation ; some insisting, from the 
contrasts drawn from Mr. Parsons, that it was 
only needful that a minister should be pious, 
and others granting that their last learned min- 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 245 

ister was not pious, yet insisting that sucli a 
thing was possible as a minister that is both 
learned and pious. 

Be that as it may, the general history is clear. 
Methodist preaching in those days was plenti- 
fully interlarded with phrases framed to cast 
odium on a learned ministry, and on those who 
held with Paul, that they which preach the gos- 
pel should live of the gospel. The declamation 
against a ministry that required a salary on 
which to live, had so large a part in the first 
Methodist preaching, and formed such an ele- 
ment in Methodist character, that now, when 
salaries are found to be necessary to Methodist 
ministers, its results are one of the greatest 
hinderances to Methodist progress. The curses 
sent forth against those who preached the gospel 
and lived of the gospel have returned upon their 
authors, in habits of those people formed after 
their preaching. 

In those times, and by those people, a preach- 
er's learning was taken as a ground of presump- 
tion that he had not the true inspiration. This 
was the argument by which thousands were 
gained to the standard of Wesley : and yet with 
great inconsistency, — since Wesley's learning 
21 * 



246 INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 

was no small element of his power, and the 
very preachers who gloried in the inspirations 
of ignorance, and denounced a learned ministry, 
gave to Wesley especial homage. Yet, in that 
day, the ministry of the old church only reaped 
what they had sown. By covering up the light 
which our Puritan fathers had kindled here, 
they had been the occasion of such an amount 
of popular ignorance, that hundreds were ready 
to be caught with such chaff. If Samuel Whit- 
ing, or the like of him, had been the minister of 
this church till the present time, Jesse Lee would 
have declaimed against a learned ministry in 
vain. If the Bible learning and the Bible spirit, 
which dwelt in Whiting and in the church 
nursed by him, had been cherished by all the 
successive generations as he cherished it, it 
would have been impossible to cast a sneer upon 
it. So, in some sense, it was a retribution in 
kind, when that little forlorn hope of a church 
was so hard pressed by such opprobrious words. 
" The fathers had eaten sour grapes, and the 
children's teeth were set on edge." Those chil- 
dren were identified with a church that had sus- 
tained a ministry in putting out the true light, 
and now a visitation comes upon them in the 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 247 

form of an open warfare against Bible learning. 
The popular mind around tliem is charged with 
the belief that learning in the ministry is exclu- 
sive of piety in the ministry. 

But we have digressed from the history of the 
church plate. The Methodists persisted in re- 
taining the plate, and the parish assumed the pe- 
cuniary responsibility of the lawsuit for its recov- 
ery from them, and retained Mr. Sullivan, who 
was afterwards governor of the state, as counsel 
to carry on the prosecution. But after proceed- 
ings had gone far enough to convince the Meth- 
odists that they could not retain the plate with- 
out a lawsuit, and probably to convince them 
that there was no hope of success in such a suit, 
they gave it up. At what time it was given up 
the record does not show. Under date of Jan- 
uary, 1797, there is a record made which gives a 
description of each article. But this is near six 
years after they were first taken by the Meth- 
odists, and five years after a demand was made 
for them. And when they did come back, one 
of the deacons who took them away came with 
them. For at the same meeting in which a 
record was made of the plate received, a record 
was made that William Farrington, on his re- 



248 INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 

quest, was received into the cliurcli and restored 
to its communion. After Mr. Thaclier was set- 
tled, three j^ears before this, and while the ques- 
tion of the plate was still pending, the church, 
as it seems to us, not knowing all the circum- 
stances of the case, very unwisely by vote re- 
quested them to come back. They had gone out 
from them, and the church had very properly, 
upon that, voted that they were not of them, and 
no longer members with them. But now, after 
Mr. Thacher came in, and, as it would seem, 
under his suggestion, they had a meeting, in 
which deploring the smallness of their number, 
they appointed a committee to invite the seced- 
ing members to return, and assuring the deacons 
that they would be allowed to resume their office 
in case of their returning. The votes in this 
case are in Mr. Thacher's style, and plainly 
show his hand ; and he thus gives the reason for 
such a procedure : " The church is the rather 
influenced to this procedure from the convictions 
of duty, and that it might be a fact of public 
notoriety, that no barrier has been erected by 
them in hinderance of the return of the said 
brethren and sisters." Now there was plainly 
no such duty in the case, and there could be no 



INTRODUCTION OP METHODISM. 249 

apparent ground on which the responsibility 
of their not returning could be thrown upon the 
church. 

In the interim between Mr. Parsons's depart- 
ure and Mr. Thacher's advent, the church had 
Mr. Robey, of Saugus, for their adviser. And 
during that trying period all their votes and 
proceedings are characterized with sound dis- 
cretion and full knowledge of ecclesiastical 
principles and usages. Under the same auspices 
such a vote as this would not have occurred. 

Now we have two conflicting churches — the 
one in the flush of youth, and with the prestige 
of great success, and the other under great dis- 
couragement and disgrace. It appears a tempest- 
tossed and barely floating wreck, with a few 
hands desperately employed to keep her from 
sinking. Her antecedents, and the remembrance 
of what she had suffered, were enough to crush 
her. While the other was known only as a new 
and successful body. "We contrast these two 
alone, not that these occupied the whole town, 
but because they occupied the whole field of 
conflict. The Quakers have not, in these times 
at least, been a church militant. Their zeal for 
proselytes has not troubled their neighbors. 



250 INTRODUCTION OP METHODISM. 

And however extensive their influence has been 
in their own sphere, that sphere has not been 
one of aggression. Besides the Quaker society, 
the Congregational church and the Methodist 
church were the only churches in the place at 
the commencement of the present century. And 
it will be seen at a glance what vast advantages, 
in this state of things, lay on the side of Method- 
ism, to put its own impress on the rapidly grow- 
ing population, and make them what it would 
have them. And now we can look back and see 
how it has done it. In one year after Lee com- 
menced his labors here, he reported one hundred 
and eighteen members received to his church. 
The next year he had one hundred and sixty- 
six. Cut the next year — the year in which 
Mr. Thacher was settled — the Methodist mem- 
bership declined, and continued to decline for 
six years, till, in 1801, only eighty-two members 
were reported. The next year it rose to one 
hundred and twenty-one. Twenty years later 
the number was four hundred. Nine years 
ago the number of Methodist professors in all 
the town was about eight hundred. At that 
date Lynn had furnished twenty-one Methodist 
preachers. 



INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM. 251 

It will be seen tliat great results, affecting 
tlie character of the town and the interests of 
innumerable minds, were brought in by the 
change in Lynn's ecclesiastical history that we 
have here had under notice. The nature of 
those results remains yet to be spoken of. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Estimate of Methodism. 

I AM now coming under the necessity of say- 
ing some things which will be unpleasant for me 
to say, and for many to read. That I take no 
pleasure in speaking of the faults of Methodism 
may be learned from the testimony of my stated 
hearers, who will bear me witness that the name 
Methodism has been strange to my pulpit. But 
since Providence now opens the way for me to 
speak of the results of near twenty years' obser- 
vation, made here upon the throbbings of the 
very heart of New England Methodism, I feel 
called upon to record my deliberately formed 
judgment. 

In doing it, I shall first set before my mind's 
eye some real Christians, whom I find in the 
Methodist body, for my audience, and invite 
them to come with me to a survey of some facts 
which should enter into a true estimate of Meth- 
odism. But let me first detain you with a few 
preliminary words. 

(252) 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 253 

When Methodism came into Lynn, it came to 
claim its own. Whatever hindered its coming 
hither, Puritanism did not. Calvinism was not 
here in any living force. For a long time all 
the preaching that was in Lynn had been a 
preaching of just the same doctrines that are 
now heard in our Methodist pulpits. So, when 
Jesse Lee arrived to plant the Methodist stan- 
dard, he declared that he had not for a long time 
felt himself so much as if at home, and among 
Methodists. And why should he not be at 
home ? The people were like Methodists be- 
cause they were Methodists. The whole current 
of their preaching for fifty years had been the 
preaching of Methodist doctrines, without Meth- 
odist forms and names. The difference between 
Mr. Henchman's preaching and Mr. Lee's was, 
that the one was dead and the other was alive. 
And a living dog is better than a dead lion. So 
the people would readily welcome an enginery 
that could infuse life into a system which they 
had already cherished. Indeed, so well had the 
ground been prepared for such a one as Jesse 
Lee, that if there had been no Jesse Lee, the soil 
would have spontaneously produced one. Then 
there was no Universalism or Unitarianism, and 
22 



254 ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 

little of professed infidelity. Most who were 
not Calvinists were Arminians. All irreligion, 
and much of the apparent religion, sympathized 
with Arminianism. So Methodism had this ad- 
vantage, that its doctrines were in favor even 
with the irreligious. It had affinities of faith 
with the opposers of vital godliness even while 
it had so much appearance of vitality. The 
change which it brought to Lynn was an arti- 
ficial life infused into a preexisting body of doc- 
trines. Arminianism used with no more outward 
forces than are needful to the effect of the truth, 
is sure eventually to become cold and dead. 
Yet it is capable of great energy when set in the 
Methodist system, employed as a galvanic ap- 
paratus to give it seeming life. So Romanism 
is a most energetic system in its way. That, 
too, has its basis in the Arminian doctrines. It, 
like Methodism, denies the doctrines of election, 
of efficacious grace, of perseverance. And it 
inculcates the existence of sinless perfection, 
and even more, of works of supererogation ; that 
is, becoming more than perfect. And with these 
Methodist doctrines Romanism has wrought with 
fearful power. But the power lay especially iu 
a machinery so well fitted to the doctrines. 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 255 

These doctrines are nowhere found to have a 
vitality in themselves, or in the Holy Ghost, 
which gives a power to the simple preaching of 
them. They need the bellows to raise the flame, 
which expires as soon as the bellows rests. 
Where Arminianism is simply preached, and no 
more enforced by machinery than gospel truth is 
required to be enforced, it is powerless. Yet 
when set in the system of Romanism, addressing 
with superhuman dexterity so many principles 
and passions of depraved nature, it has made 
the world to tremble before it. But a power 
that is imparted by machinery cannot be the 
power of God unto salvation. The faith of 
believers does not stand in the wisdom of men, 
but in the power of God. So, invariably, Armin- 
ianism, wherever it has gone unsupported by the 
'^" Methodist economy, or the Romish economy, or 
something like it, has put into the sleep of death 
every considerable branch of the church that 
has adopted it. The modern development of it, 
under the auspices of Arminius himself, appro- 
priated to itself what was at a time the prepon- 
derant power of the church in Holland ; and 
now the Dutch Remonstrants in all the Nether- 
lands have dwindled to the compass of four 



256 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

thousand people. In France and Switzerland, 
the stealthy infusion of this doctrine brought 
the once Calvinistic churches to the brink of 
the grave. In England, the Presbyterian church 
came to its death by it. In Scotland, Moderatism, 
another name for Arminianism, went far enough 
to show that it was working only death. In 
Massachusetts, it rocked the cradle of infant 
Unitarianism in a hundred churches. For all 
these churches abandoned Calvinism, and be- 
came Arminians before they became Unitarians. 
In truth, there was here no apostasy from Cal- 
vinism to Unitarianism. But it was in all cases 
the natural transition from Arminianism to Uni- 
tarianism. 

These historical facts illustrate the incompe- 
tency of Arminianism, or of the Methodist doc- 
trines, to supply the energy of a religious body # 
without artificial and unscriptural appliances, 
such as Methodism has. This of itself shows 
those doctrines to be fundamentally wrong, and 
not, like the gospel truth, the proper channels of 
divine life. Doctrines that cannot preserve 
church life by the preaching and ordinances 
which God has appointed, without the aid of 
a galvanic battery, are not the incorruptible 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 257 

seed that liveth and abideth forever. But do 
not Calvinistic cliiirches die out ? That is the 
question. Do they? Do clmvchcs while Calvin- 
istic die out ? Single branches, from local causes, 
here and there may die from a tree that has a 
living root and stock ; but where did the main 
body of any community of Calvinistic churches 
die out before they had lost their Calvinism ? 
And very rarely did any go away from Calvin- 
ism but through the Arminian road. There have, 
as we have already seen, been many instances in 
which churches have first migrated into dilferent 
regions of doctrines, and then have sickened and 
died. And the adoption of simple Arminianism 
by a church has, in the light of all history, been 
shown to be the first stage of a consumption on 
its vitals. This approach to death has come for 
want of the quickening force of the doctrines of 
the cross. The church is sanctified through the 
truth. Cut off from the truth, no human art 
can prolong its life. 

"But great success has attended Methodism." 
True ; and still greater success has attended 
Romanism, and for a like cause. But it is yet 
to be proved whether it is not, in the preponder- 
ant result, success in turning men from the sim- 
09 -jf 



258 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

plicity that is iii Christ. But we shall have 
more of this hereafter. One great difficulty 
which we have ever felt about it is, that Methodist 
teaching seems to be framed to meet the tastes 
of depraved minds ; that Methodism has its suc- 
cess more in that it can preach what the enemies 
of the cross wish to hear, than in any thing else. 
It labors not to bring men up to religion, but to 
bring religion down to the depraved inclinations 
of men. 

So, when Methodism came to Lynn, it pro- 
duced great results, because it took hold of the 
doctrines which lay in the minds of almost all 
men here, and wrought them with the steam, 
levers, and pulleys of a new engine. 

But why did it come hither under the hand of 
a detachment sent from the main body of Meth- 
odists holding the less evangelized fields of the 
south ? Why did it come to Lynn in the person 
of a Virginian ? Mr. Stevens, in his Memorials 
of Methodism, tells us that it came as a protest 
against some of the main doctrines of Puritanism. 
If that were so, Lynn was the last place to which 
it should have come, instead of the first, for 
there was the least of those doctrines here. He 
says, " It cam© with the voice of remonstrance 



ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 259 

against some of the principal doctrines of the 
Puritan church, which it deemed derogatory to 
the gospel, and of dangerous practical conse- 
quence. Such were the tenets of preelection, 
prereprobation, final perseverance, infant dam- 
nation, &c." — p. 41. 

Now, let this be borne in mind by those who 
say that there is no essential difference between 
us and the Methodists. The Methodists tell us 
here that there is a very important difference. 
From their position in the south they saw the 
land of the Puritans in such desolation as to 
move their compassions, to leave the waste places 
of the south and come over into this Macedonia, 
this more waste place, and help us from under 
the power of these dangerous doctrines. When 
the Methodist historian tells us that so re- 
nowned a missionary of theirs brought Method- 
ism hither for such a cause, he tells us that it 
esteemed the religion of New England as worse 
than none. And that concurs with the present 
givings forth here in Methodist pulpits, just as 
often as those pulpits get inflamed on the sub- 
ject of these horrible doctrines of Calvinism. 
What is here said of our teaching the doctrine 
of infant damnation will be more remarked upon 
i^^vp^fter. 



260 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

It is said that the purpose of Methodism com- 
ing hither was to put forth a voice of remon- 
strance against Puritan doctrines, which were 
so dangerous and pernicious as to make this 
properly a missionary field. But how surprised 
will the reader be to find that this bearing tes- 
timony against Puritan doctrines was just the 
thing that the pioneers avoided whenever con- 
versation on these doctrines was desired. Mr. 
Stevens tells us over and over again that their 
policy was, when ministers and leading mem- 
bers of the Puritan churches desired to con- 
verse with them about ^^ principles ^^^ to evade the 
discussion if possible. He reports Mr. Lee as 
saying of Mr. Bartlett, of Reading, Connecticut, 
whom he calls the "pugnacious Congregation- 
alist,'' that " the minister and a few other people 
came in, and wanted to enter into a conversa- 
tion about principles, and inquired what kind 
of doctrines we held. But I said little.'^ In 
Farmington he was invited to dine ; but he said, 
" We had been there but a short time before the 
old man began to talk about principles, and the 
old lady to prepare dinner. * * * I thought it 
best to be moving." The instances of this kind 
abound, showing that when the ministers and 



ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 261 

people demanded of tliein a frank statement of 
the new principles which they were offering to 
the people, they could not get it. Then they 
thought it best " to be moving." Yet when 
there were none to call them in question, as in 
Lynn, there they were not averse to talking about 
principles. Then he says, '' I bore public testi- 
mony against unconditional election." So did 
not the reformers of other days. Their mission 
required no skulking. 

Mr. Stevens represents adroitness in dodging 
as well provided for in Methodism. He says it 
is a system made up of marked contrasts. " No 
church preaches more stanchly against Calvin- 
ism, Universalism, et cetera ; and yet the oppo- 
site doctrines are nowhere directly stated in our 
articles of religion." So Calvinism and Uni- 
versalism are classed together, as equally bad, 
but neither of them marked in the creed as 
opponents to be met to the face. The discre- 
tion of the pulpit must determine if a sprin- 
kling of Universalism here, and of Calvinism 
there, be not best. But this part of his state- 
ment is true, that none preach against Cal- 
vinism with more vehemence than Methodists. 
Here, in Lynn, where Calvinism little prevails, 



262 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

the Methodist pulpit revels in denunciations 
of it. 

We come now more directly to our estimate 
of the nature and results of Methodism. It 
will do my Methodist friends no harm to look 
at their system through my spectacles ; for I 
have often looked at mine through theirs with- 
out injury. 

" 0, wad some power the giftie gie us, 
To see om-sels as others see us, 
It wad frae monie a blunder free us, 

And foolish notion ; 
What aii's in dress and gait would lea' us, 

And e'en devotion ! " 

For two generations Methodism has had its 
way in forming the character of the people of 
Lynn. And that character, with limited excep- 
tions, is very much what Methodism has made it. 
With inconsiderable exceptions the Methodist 
doctrine has been taught here a century and 
a quarter ; and it has had a chance to work 
out its proper results on the common mind here 
more unmixed with otlier systems than any 
where else in New England. Here it has done 
its best — has employed its best ministers — has 
found its best field — and has had the fewest 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 263 

obstacles. So it becomes a question of great 
interest to all the friends of Christ, What are 
the true results of Methodism here, in the place 
which God has allotted it, for showing its proper 
fruits ? In this laboratory of peculiar elements 
of human character an experimental process has 
extended through a century, and now its result 
has come out for the instruction of the world. 
Now we have a rare opportunity to inspect the 
proper work of Methodism, and compare it with 
that of the gospel, pure and simple. And we 
are bound to improve it to the best advantage. 
And what has this system produced, so much in 
advance of Puritanism ? Has it evangelized the 
people faster and in greater proportion? Has 
it produced a piety so much more clear and un- 
questioned ? — conversions more genuine and re- 
liable? — a Christian character more intelligent, 
staid, and free from backslidings ? — more be- 
neficent and ready to make sacrifices for Chris- 
tianity ? In short, has it shown results enough, 
better than those of Puritanism, to justify its 
having left the wastes of the south, and chosen 
out New England as the most waste of all the 
waste fields to be occupied ? You see what a 
reputation Lynn has abroad. Methodists may 



264 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

be partial to the work of their own hands, and 
rejoice in this reputation, and estimate the char- 
acter of Lynn above that of all other people, 
because it is more to their taste and judgment. 
But surely they cannot place it so much above 
all people as to make Puritan places wastes, 
and this the garden of the Lord. We out- 
siders cannot see that it has any advantage 
over the other places. We have the impression 
that when laid in the balances it will be found 
wanting. 

We not only see that Methodism has wrought 
serious injury to the religious and moral interests 
of the people, but the process by which it has 
done it is clear to our apprehension : that is the 
process which has multiplied spurious conver- 
sions. Some years ago a company of Methodist 
ministers had been assembled in Lynn, on a pub- 
lic occasion ; and at a casual meeting of many 
of them, where the presence of any one but a 
Methodist was not known to them, this evil was 
brought under discussion as an admitted fact ; 
and the question was. Why do so many more 
Methodist converts backslide than those of Con- 
gregationalists ? Various reasons were assigned, 
including some of what we think to be the true 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 265 

reasons. This shows that they arc not ignorant 
of the evil which they are doing. 

This evil has largo manifestations in Lynn — 
the place of Methodism's longest abode and 
greatest strength. During my residence here I 
have made extensive observations on the results 
of Methodist revivals. Were I disposed to be 
severe, as I have been represented to be, I should 
have drawn a life-like picture of what is said 
and done at the Methodist altar, or camp meet- 
ings, in Methodist revivals, constituting what 
may be called a religious comedy. But I spare 
the description ; for it is the effect of these comic 
operations with which we are specially con- 
cerned. And this is a serious matte?-. In what- 
ever way a mind may be wrought upon under 
the excitements of such scenes, if the person can 
be made to speak, and shout " Glory to God ! '' 
he is treated as one converted. But after the 
excitement is gone he finds his mistake. Then 
he says to himself, " These ministers and Chris- 
tians told us that that was conversion. Of 
course it is all the vital religion that they have 
experienced. So all vital religion is a sham. 
Say no more to us of conversion, for we have 
tried it, and found it a cheat." Now, fearless 
23 



266 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

of contradiction, I may affirm that there are 
thousands of people in Lynn that have taken up 
this conclusion from these premises. 

I will not take upon me to assert the definite 
proportion of the Methodist conversions that 
prove spurious. The impression which I have 
gathered from laying a variety of facts together 
is, that about 7ime tenths of the whole are found to 
be spurious after a longer or shorter trial. This 
may be an over statement. If the actual pro- 
portion could be made out by statistics, it would 
be an important item of knowledge ; and I hope 
that some one who has the means of doing it 
will give us the facts in a reliable form. Until 
this is done, my impression will be, that the pro- 
portion is as I have stated it. I will give some 
of the instances on which I have based my 
conclusion. A case occurred, during Rev. Mr. 
Eockwood's ministry here, in Saugus village, in 
which he attended some of the meetings, and 
took pains to inform himself both of the pro- 
ceedings and then of the results. In that case 
there were thirty converts received into the 
class, and at the end of a year only two of 
these remained in the church. One of those 
converts who characterized Mr. Rockwood's re- 



ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 2G7 

marks in llic meeting as " milk and water " must 
have been one of the two, for he became after- 
wards a Methodist minister, and still later a 
Univcrsalist minister. I am also informed of 
another case, in the same village, which occurred 
later, in which forty persons were said to be con- 
verted, every one of whom backslid ; and of still 
another, extending more through the town, in 
which one hundred and five were counted as 
converts, aU but two of ivhom fell away. 

Of the cases which have come under my own 
observation, the proportion of those falling away 
has not been as great ; but it has been too great 
to be believed by those not familiar with Meth- 
odist operations. Where numbers have been 
given, it has appeared that about nine tenths 
have fallen away. And this I have been led to 
think is about the average proportion. But if 
I mistake when I say that nine tenths of Method- 
ist converts backslide, let those who have the 
means correct the mistake. It is, in this com- 
munity, a matter of common notoriety that a 
vast majority do thus backslide. And if the 
precise proportion can be given, it would be a 
valuable though sad contribution to our knowl- 
edge. 



268 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

It is clear as noonday tliat the gospel, as 
preached by the apostles, was followed by no 
such disastrous results. One of the sad results 
of this state of things is the levity with which 
church relations and a profession of religion 
come to be treated, by reason of the fact that 
people come in and go out so easy, and are so 
often reconverted and backslidden, excommuni- 
cated and restored. As a specimen, there now 
occurs to me the case of one who had had nu- 
merous conversions. In speaking casually of the 
subject, without a thought of uttering any thing 
peculiar, she said she " had been a member of the 
churchy off and on, seventeen years.^^ Nor was 
there any thing peculiar in it. There are hun- 
dreds who might say the same, and who would 
probably be as indifferent whether they were 
off or on. A man who had been often converted 
in this way, and whose moral habits in the inter- 
vals while backslidden were not the most cor- 
rect, but who had attained the position of a 
class leader, was exhorting his mother to be 
born again, and become a dear good Methodist, 
and go to heaven. She replied to him, "You 
have been born again now ten times, and I am 



ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 269 

afraid if you sliould be born ten times more you 
will not get to heaven." 

In short, it is none of the smallest of the evils 
of this system that it brings the matter of con- 
version to God, and covenanting with him in a 
public profession, into contempt. It is really 
sickening to see how this matter stands in the 
common mind, that gets its views of religion in 
familiarity with Methodist ideas and practices. 
The common speech of men on the subject here 
mingles more of the ludicrous than of the seri- 
ous — just as the Methodist efforts in their re- 
vival scenes embrace of design so much that is 
comical. 

Here is a process that issues, we will say, in 
deluding nine tenths of the professed converts, 
offering to every one invited to conversion a 
chance of ten to one that he will be cheated 
into a disastrous delusion. And where Method- 
ism abounds, as in Lynn, it multiplies the de- 
luded by hundreds at a time. And we insist 
that such a work should come under a solemn 
scrutiny. We ask the true Christians connected 
with Methodism, Are you willing to be responsi- 
ble for this ? Can you lay your hand upon your 
heart before God, and say that it is a work fit 
23" 



270 p:stimate of Methodism. 

for Christians to engage in ? Go out with me 
while we count the fruits as they hang in clusters 
around us. This process on a broad scale has 
been going on in Lynn for sixty years. The 
main religious force of the town has been em- 
ployed upon it. At short intervals, ever and 
anon, a hundred or more of the children and 
youth have been thus deceived. They have come 
under such influences and instruction, that they 
have no idea of any other conversion than this. 
They look back on what was seen and felt in 
that scene, where their fancies and their passions 
were wrought upon, and the idea which memory 
holds of that stands in their minds for Christian 
experience. Urge now upon them the duty of 
repentance and faith in Christ, and their inward 
thought is, this repentance and faith are a farce ; 
for I have proved it in my own experience. 

Now, it is a very serious matter to have so 
large a portion of the people, by such a system- 
atic operation, divested of their faith in vital 
Christianity, hardened in heart, and put beyond 
the reach of gospel influences. It is this process 
more than all other causes that has swelled the 
amount of irreligion in Lynn. Soon after the 
second Universalist society here was organized, 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 271 

with the help of one who was extensively 
acquainted with individuals, I went over, as far 
as practicable, the list of the persons that made 
up that society, and of nearly all it was found 
that they were such as had had experience of 
what is called conversion under Methodist oper- 
ations. And in view of this tendency of things 
which we have described, the conclusion was 
inevitable, that the Methodist conversion was 
the cause of the Universalism. Indeed, if one 
has been made to believe that that evanescent 
impression over which Methodists are wont to 
raise the shout of glory is true conversion, he 
can hardly fail, after that impression is gone, 
to conclude that conversion is a dream. In 
short, we found that the warp and woof of the 
second Universalist society had been Methodist 
professors, and some had been Methodist preach- 
ers. And we concluded that the same was true 
essentially of the first Universalist society. We 
extended our inquiry among that large class of 
people who have no religious connections, and so 
far as we could ascertain, most of them, in them- 
selves or their parents, had been set without the 
range of religious influence by a backsliding 
after a religious profession. For it* must be 



272 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

remembered that the evil stops not with one 
generation. When by a spurious conversion 
one's conclusions are fixed against Christianity, 
he too often carries his children with him. And 
so, if our Universalist societies have fewer Meth- 
odist backsliders now than they had at their 
first formation, it is in a great measure because 
that instead of the fathers there have come 
up the children. To me the conclusion seems 
irresistible, that a great majority of the opposers 
of evangelical religion in this place have been 
made such, either directly or indirectly, by an 
experience had in Methodist revivals. That 
these are natural results of such operations can- 
not be denied, and if my Methodist friends 
should think it worth their while to attempt any 
correction of my errors, I would invite their 
special attention to the facts which I have now 
stated. I ask them, and I ask all careful obser- 
vers. Have I erred as to the number of spurious 
conversions, or as to the after condition of the 
deceived, or as to the proportion of such deceived 
ones now in the ranks of irreligion ? If it be 
a fact that there is more of immorality, irreli- 
gion, rowdyism, and infidelity in Lynn, than in 
other New England towns where the Puritan 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 273 

doctrines have had the ascendency, Methodism has 
undoubtedly been the main cause of it. From 
what has been apparent in the history of Meth- 
odism in Lynn, it is plain that the Methodist 
ministry promotes Uuiversalism much faster 
than a Universalist ministry can. For few are 
the converts gained by Universalist preaching, 
except of those who by a spurious conversion 
had been before made Universalists. 

These statements, we know, will grieve many 
real Christians among the Methodists, who, from 
mistaken views, lend their aid to a system that 
produces these disastrous results. Yet many 
of these Christians are at least half aware of 
this state of things. The case of those ministers 
which I have referred to as debating the matter 
proves it. The serious and reflecting minds in 
that body cannot but have seen and mourned 
over the fact that a great part of those who 
came into the front door of their church are 
wont to go out at the back door. They cannot 
fail to see how hardened and hopeless are most 
of the cases of those who have gone through this 
delusion. And yet why do they continue the 
destructive process ? Why will they put their 
hand to work a machinery which they see to be 



274 ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 

piling up around us so many wrecks of cliaracter 
and hope ? Here I must speak plainly, and say 
that the reason is, because it promotes Methodism. 
True, so many immortal men are made to die by 
it. But yet Methodism lives by it. By con- 
verting a hundred and retaining ten of the con- 
verts, an addition of ten is gained to Meth- 
odism. And where there are people enough 
to sustain this draught, Methodism may advance, 
but the ranks of irreligion advance faster. 
And so, because Methodism can be promoted 
by it, all this wreck and ruin are risked. And 
this motive presses with still more urgency, 
when it is seen that Methodism cannot live 
without these measures. If these were excluded, 
its power of self-preservation would be gone. If 
the Methodist ministry should cease to encourage 
the belief that that experience is conversion, 
and cease to preach the doctrines and use the 
measures that promote such conversions, Meth- 
odism would cease to exist under their hands. 
They might preach the gospel and gather men to 
Christ, but not to Methodism. The Christian men 
among the Methodists are to be blamed for con- 
tinuing this hardening process upon the minds of 
the community, when they themselves see and de- 



ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 275 

plore the evils, and still continue them. When I 
heard some eight or ten years ago of that consalta- 
tion of Methodist ministers, which proved that 
their eyes were somewhat open to these evils, I 
hoped that some measures would be taken to re- 
move or mitigate them. But in all this time not 
a finger has been lifted for a change, not the 
slightest abatement has been made of those ex- 
travagant and comic measures which have done 
the mischief. Nor will there be while Methodism 
exists. For they are the heart and lungs to its 
life and breath. 

I have traced the irreligion prevalent in Lynn 
very much to this cause. It may be also well to 
remember that Lynn has some reputation abroad 
for tendencies to fanaticism and strange fancies. 
If Satan has any degrading and filthy delusion 
to play off, to bring the human race into greater 
contempt, Lynn is the place which he is wont to 
choose for its birth. 

If mesmerism, biology, phrenology, necro- 
mancy, spiritual rapping, and any of the thou- 
sand and one of that class of the tricks is to be 
played off, it must go out from Lynn, the great 
mart of humbugs. And what has prepared the 
minds of so many people here to give entertain- 



276 ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 

ment to such things ? Lynn has been for sixty 
years the home and paradise of Methodism ; 
and in the spurious conversions multiplied, you 
may see what has made it the cage of these un- 
clean birds, and especially of that fanatical sect, 
which, under the various names of Comeout- 
ers. Abolitionists, Reformers, Philanthropists, 
Non-resistants, and what not, filled the place 
with noise and fury for some ten or fifteen years. 
Those Howling Dervishes had here their head 
quarters, and here their main support, while 
they made their discordant voices to be heard 
abroad through the land. And how came they 
to build their nest here ? What had made the 
people here so liable to be carried about by every 
wind of doctrine ? Methodism had been here 
for half a century, educating the people into 
unstable and excitable habits. Calvinism had 
left the ground, for a century, to the full sway 
of Arminian or Methodist doctrines. We do 
not assert that Methodism was the sole cause 
of the peculiar characteristics of Lynn. Other 
collateral causes have contributed a share of 
influence. And though a part of the present 
population has come in from abroad, like has at- 
tracted like, and to a great extent the immi- 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 277 

grants have been similar to the original stock. 
After making all allowance for the intervention 
of other causes, it will be seen that Arminian or 
Methodist doctrine and practice have formed 
these characteristics ; and when the gust of that 
fanaticism swept over the place, it concentrated 
its main fury upon the only Puritan church then 
in the town — by the intensity of its hostility 
working out the highest possible commendation 
of our principles. 

But am I mistaken as to the cause of these 
idiosyncrasies of Lynn? They have a cause. 
They have not come by chance. Something has 
wrought the mind of Lynn into its present char- 
acter. It was not the pure gospel of Christ ; for 
that does not produce such fruits. It was not 
Calvinism ; for Calvinism, for more than a hun- 
dred years, has, till of late, had no perceptible 
presence with the general mass of mind. But 
Methodism has had a broad influence, and most 
of the people have, to a greater or less extent, 
felt its power. And if this is not the cause, 
let any one attempt to tell what is. 
24 



CHAPTER IX. 

Estimate of Methodism. 

The next feature of Methodism which we are 
to briug under examination is, its missionary 
character — or its assuming the ground of all 
other churches as its missionary field, or its con- 
centrating its main force in aggressions, not 
on heathenism or infidelity, but upon Christian 
churches. Mr. Stevens says truly of his sys- 
tem, that it " is an economy thoroughly mission- 
ary, and yet almost entirely confined to home 
operations." This statement is verified in the 
fact that the Methodist denomination in the 
United States, which boasts of being the largest 
denomination, does next to nothing in foreign 
missions to the heathen. It has a system which 
it calls foreign missions. But that system em- 
braces missions to New Mexico, California, and 
Oregon ; missions to France, Germany, and 
South America, laboring among Protestants and 
Catholics in those countries ; and missions to 
Liberia. Only one of all the missions sustained 

(278) 



ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 270 

by this system is, properly speaking, a foreign 
mission to the heathen. That is the mission to 
China. Among the Komanists and Protestants 
in foreign conntries, it works on the same prin- 
ciples that it does upon our churches — assum- 
ing that all have equal need to be converted to 
Methodism. Methodism is a system of home 
missions, in a more complete sense than any 
other, in that it makes all other churches imme- 
diately around it its missionary field ; and in 
that sense it finds at home the field of its main 
operations. 

This feature is not so prominent in English 
Methodists. They are more evangelical, and 
have an ecclesiastical system somewhat differ- 
ent from this. They have no bishops. They 
have done more in foreign missions to the 
heathen. 

With American Methodism the first assump- 
tion is, that Christianity consists in making all 
men Methodists. It matters not whether they 
be Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, or heathen. 
They have all alike need to be made Methodists. 
And as Christian churches are more hopeful 
fields, where Methodists can be made faster, it is 
counted good economy to spend the main force 



281) ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

of Methodism among those Christian churches. 
Hence, as Mr. Stevens says, " Methodism is an 
economy thoroughly missionary, and yet almost 
entirely limited to home operations." It is not 
for preaching Christ where Christ is not named, 
but chiefly for building on other men's founda- 
tions. So it cannot work kindly and concur- 
rently with other churches for the progress of a 
common Christianity, because it has a mission 
to work upon them. It virtually says to them, 
" We will bear our part in the Christian work, 
for our system is thoroughly missionary. But 
our part consists in making men Methodists, 
after you have made them Christians. Our sys- 
tem, being thoroughly missionary, is just the 
thing for felling forests and fertilizing the 
wastes. But our machinery is ' limited to home 
operations.' So your gardeiis arc the forests and 
the wastes for us to subdue. So you may go 
forth and fell the trees, and clear the stumps ; 
and when this is done we will show you the 
power of our machinery." 

There is a capital fallacy in the missionary 
pretences of Methodism. Its organs are framed, 
like those of the leech, for drawing its life 
blood, not from the dead, but the living. No 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 281 

city police lias all the finger ends of its system 
so under command of the governing mind, as 
has the Methodist system. Each Methodist 
society is divided into smaller companies or 
classes of twelve, more or less. Each class 
leader is bound to see each member of his class, 
and also to report to his minister, or steward, 
once a week ; so as to bring each mind so often 
into contact with the central mind ; so as to 
give him the most effectual direction of all ac- 
tivities in the society. This makes each class a 
platoon under the charge of a sergeant, obeying 
the word of the captain. And the aggregate 
force of the company is usually employed for 
making Methodists out of an already Christian 
population ; in other words, for multiplying 
proselytes from other bodies. The fault is not 
in the casual and indiscreet zeal of an individ- 
ual here and there. But proselyting is the main 
intent of the system. Christian communities 
are the chosen fields for missionary efforts ; and 
the more Christian they are, the more need, in a 
Methodist view, they have of being converted 
to Methodism — especially if they have become 
Christians after the type of Paul's religion. 
Then those horrible doctrines of Calvinism 



282 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

require " a voice of remonstrance ; " and gener- 
ally the assumption wliicli animates the whole 
working force of the machine is, that whatever 
is gathered out of the churches of Christ is so 
much gain. Methodism welcomes the son re- 
turning from Calvinism as heartily as one com- 
ing from heathenism, and bestows a hundred 
fold more labor to secure such converts. 

Yet this ignoring of all Christians but Meth- 
odists is the worse for not being consistently 
carried out, so that others may know what to 
expect. In tho general, the system acts as if 
there were no salvation out of the Methodist 
church, and as if a convert secured from Calvin- 
ism were a brand plucked from the burning. 
Yet when it has an advantage to gain, it can 
make good Christians out of Universalists, and 
even Calvinists. For the sake of advantage, it 
can allow one of its preachers to operate as sea- 
man's preacher for the Unitarians, in a way that 
gives them full satisfaction for a score of years. 
"When it has a meeting house to build, for draw- 
ing people from other churches, it can go round 
for the funds, hat in hand, sowing brotherly ap- 
pellations broadcast on every field. Yet when 
it comes into action among its benefactors, it 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 283 

counts all proselytes gained from tlicir connec- 
tions as so many saved from destruction. With 
Christians there is a sense of meanness attached 
to the zeal of gathering proselytes from Chris- 
tian churches. It is regarded as an offence 
against i\\Q body of Christ. But Methodism 
glories in it as its main accomplishment. It 
never takes a place among the sisterhood of 
churches as having equal rights and common 
interests. It never applies the golden rule, lim- 
iting itself to that treatment of other sects 
which it would be willing to receive from them. 
It never supposes that it would be right for us 
to retaliate in kind, and labor as hard to prose- 
lyte its children and youth as it docs ours ; much 
less tliat it would be right for Calvinistic pulpits 
to utter themselves as freely against Methodism 
as Methodist pulpits speak against Calvinism. 
When any approaches are made by us to such 
freedom, Methodists are thrown into convulsions. 
Their pulpits are ever ringing changes upon the 
horrible doctrines of Calvinism, and uttering 
false imputations as to our preaching infant dam- 
nation, and it is considered all right, and nothing 
remarkable. Yet, after listening to this in si- 
lence for twenty years, when this pulpit for the 



284 ESTIMATE OP METHODISIM. 

first time spoke out on tlie faults of Methodism, 
a holy indignation inflamed the breasts of thou- 
sands. It was regarded as an outrage not to be 
allowed in a Christian land. Two newspaper 
presses were employed to denounce and anni- 
hilate. Anonymous and threatening letters 
have been sent, addressing me as " Thou fiexd 
OP hell," and bidding me " M^^ Beware ! " 
If the writer had uttered blasphemies by the 
yard, he could not so much have raised the holy 
horror of the Methodist body, and its pious' 
champion of that body connected with the Lynn 
Daily, (which, by the way, died in the cause,) as 
has the utterance of what appears on these pages. 
But why can freedom of speech exist only on one 
side ? Why, forsooth, Methodism is true Chris- 
tianity, and all else is false and ruinous. 

But as a zeal for proselytes, making aggres- 
sions on other churches, is a main vice of the 
system, we may further illustrate it. There have 
been frequent instances since my residence in 
Lynn, generally in connection with Methodist 
revivals, in which the proselyting apparatus has 
been at work with special energy ; and the re- 
sources which the system so liberally provides 
for this end have come into action upon the 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 285 

young. Of late, one of these breezes has 
jjassed over us, but with no very formidable 
result. 

When there went out from this church a col- 
ony to found the Central Church, they had 
hardly begun before the Methodists established 
a new station for preaching in the same locality, 
within a stone's throw of them, with a view to 
thwart them ; and as soon as they found that 
impracticable, they discontinued it. But we 
have a better illustration in events now trans- 
piring in Swampscot. That place was for many 
years regarded by all as a place needing gospel 
institutions. The Methodists were nearer, and, 
in Lynn, stronger than any other body, and the 
place naturally waited for them to occupy it. 
Year after year went by, and nothing was done. 
Methodism was " thoroughly a missionary econ- 
omy, but chiefly limited to home operations ; " 
and Swampscot, having no church in it, was too 
far from home. The difiiculty probably w^as 
what a Methodist minister formerly here as- 
cribed to the church in Saugus Village, at a time 
when it seemed to be under special disasters. 
He said that that church could not prosper, be- 
cause it was too distant from any Calvinistic 



28G ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

cliurch. So, of course, it was too far from home. 
Finding that nothing was to be attempted there 
b}' the Methodists, our denomination encouraged 
a preacher to labor there, putting a trembling 
hand to the work, doubtful whether we should 
succeed, especially because we expected the 
thwartings of the Methodists as soon as we 
should have gathered enough of a congregation 
to be a temptation to their missionary zeal. 
After nine years' patient labor, the small band 
there acquired strength enough to sustain its 
ministry, unaided from abroad. During this, 
Swampscot was a foreign field, not suitable for 
Methodist missions, which were intended for 
home operations ; but after the Congregational 
society had attained a living position, and more 
especially after some symptoms of revival ap- 
peared, the time had come for a Methodist mis- 
sion to be sent thither, and even forced upon the 
place, against the advice and wishes of some 
of the judicious Methodist people there, whose 
sense of propriety revolted at such proceedings. 
A minister was stationed there, and the whole 
Methodist ministry of Lynn, with its presiding 
elder, has been striving together with him to put 
forward the mission. 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 287 

The time for the onset was chosen, when there 
was some special religious interest in connection 
with Mr. Clarke's labors. After he had toiled 
on for nine years in one of the hardest of fields, 
and when he saw some of the first symptoms of 
the hardness giving way, the Methodists, who till 
then had forborne to act, now rushed in. There 
was a particular neighborhood in which more 
religious interest was manifest, and where Mr. 
Clarke had weekly meetings in the evening. 
Here they established also a meeting, the same 
evening in the week. In one instance, when 
Mr. Clarke could not himself be present at the 
meeting of his appointment, the Methodist min- 
ister went in unasked, and took the control of 
it himself, and conducted it to suit himself ; and 
at that time the females of Mr. Clarke's church 
were exhorted to violate its rules by speaking 
and exhorting in promiscuous assemblies. Mr. 
Clarke also had evening meetings in the village ; 
and here too the Methodists came and established 
one on the same evening. Mr. Clarke changed 
the time of his meeting, to" avoid the clashing. 
Then they changed the time of theirs. In another 
case, where Mr. Clarke's people had a district 
prayer meeting, they estal^lished a sewing circle 



288 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

the same evening. Mr. Clarke changed his time, 
and then they changed theirs to correspond, and 
took special pains to drum up an attendance. 

All delicacy as to the form of teasing Mr. 
Clarke's people to leave him has been laid aside. 
The minister has gone round from house to house, 
inviting the families of Mr. Clarke's congrega- 
tion to secede. To his invitation, '' Come and 
join us," the families replied, " "We attend Mr. 
Clarke's meeting, and have pews in his house." 
He replied, " No matter ; it is your duty to come 
and join the Methodists." With such unblush- 
ing impudence the work has been carried on. 
But so far as we are informed, this part of the 
work has excited only disgust in the persons 
assailed. 

These th war tings were the only way in which 
the Methodists recognized the existence of any 
gospel or any church in Swampscot. From first 
to last, none of their ministers conferred with 
Mr. Clarke, or any of his church, to secure good 
feeling in conducting the operations. In no 
way have they acknowledged that the people 
have access to the preaching of the gospel in 
any form. Yet some of the people whom they 
have gathered have sent their children to Mr. 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 280 

Clarke's Sabbath school, using its books, papers, 
and privileges, and paying nothing for them. 
But though the Methodists have asked no ad- 
vice, they have been free to give it — have, 
where opportunity offered, urged female mem- 
bers of Mr. Clarke's church to violate its rules 
by exhorting in its meetings ; they wishing not 
only to regulate their own affairs in their own 
way, but to force those of others into their own 
way, and get up division. They have, as usual, 
dealt in plentiful appeals, made to vulgar preju- 
dices, as to the want of liberty in Congregational 
churches, to wit, the liberty of female speaking. 
They have sought to take advantage of the ig- 
norance of foolish men, by saying, " Your minis- 
ter will not change with Unitarian Baptists, but 
we will ; and magnifying such like advantages 
of Methodism ; and also the work has been car- 
ried on by a plentiful use of those caricatures 
of Calvinism which are so common with Meth- 
odists, and of which I shall have further occa- 
sion to speak. 

Here, as in many other instances of Methodist 

beginnings, the work was first put forward by 

what are technically called backsliders ; that is, 

persons who, for a long time before, were not only 

25 



290 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

neglecters of public worship, but delinquents in 
outward morality, and who, on the forthcoming 
of their new-born zeal, excused the past by say- 
ing that they " could 'not serve God except in 
their own way," and that while living within 
two miles of a Methodist church. It was on the 
basis of the action of such like men that the 
Methodist conference sent a preacher there ; and 
this was similar to the first upspringing of the 
sect in this country. 

I have already given, on the authority of Dr. 
Bangs, the first origin of American Methodism, 
in the preaching of Mr. Embury, whose tran- 
sition fi'om the pulpit to the card table, and 
back again, was so easy, and have shown how 
the church collected by him became the mother 
of American Methodist churches ; and you have 
observed that this great church did not bring 
hither its first germ in an enterprise for the 
spread of the kingdom of Christ. It did not 
make its first appearance here in the person of 
devoted and holy men, taught by the grace of 
God to live soberly, righteously, and godly in 
the world. 

How strongly this contrasts with the origin 
of New England Puritanism, brought hither in 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 291 

the hearts of martyrs and confessors who give 
the light of a holy example to succeeding gener- 
ations ! Yet this Metliodism is the thing that 
boasts of being raised up to spread holiness over 
the world, and that comes hither with a solemn 
" remonstrance against the principal doctrines of 
the Puritan church." This expansion of a germ 
conceived over a card table feels itself qualified 
to ignore all the Christianity that exists out of 
itself, and to ride roughshod over all our institu- 
tions, and churches, and preachers, as having not 
the gospel. As all American Methodism came 
of this transplant of backsliders, so it is no 
wonder if Methodist ministers foster with pecu- 
liar care all efforts having a like origin. That 
in Swampscot is one of the last examples. 

But Christian churches are not wont to liave 
such beginnings. The first Christian churches 
came up under the men who, whatever they had 
been before, were not employed as builders of 
the church till they had been turned from the 
power of Satan unto God, and till their conver- 
sion had undergone the clearest of all tests. 
There is too much conscience with people that 
gather around the standard of the cross, and 
under the preaching of the truth as it is in Jesus, 



292 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

to work under leaders whose zeal aud flaency in 
prayers and exhortations are made to compensate 
for want of blameless morals. A church that 
can spring to life under the hand of such men 
has not the Christian life. It is the fungus, the 
mushroom, and not the fruit-bearing tree, that 
sucks its life from decayed stumps. The mush- 
room may have a rapid growth and a wide cir- 
cumference, but it bears no fruit. 

What is in progress in Swampscot is no move- 
ment of inexperienced subalterns. The presiding 
elder of the district and all his subordinates 
have been upon the ground and put forward the 
work. And the complete interlocking of agen- 
cies in the Methodist system causes the guiding 
hand to be felt in the action of all bands, and 
makes the whole work the work of the minis- 
try ; and doubtless the movement recently con- 
ceived there, but defeated, to secure the building 
of a Town Hall at the town's expense, to serve 
as a Methodist meeting house, originated in the 
same source with other Methodist plans. But 
the working of the thing was perhaps best illus- 
trated in what was called the " Social Levee " 
recently held there, to raise funds by the sale of 
tickets, and to give encouragement and a com- 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 293 

mencing impulse to the work, at one of the public 
boarding houses there. There was a large crowd 
gathered from Lynn, led by the Lynn ministers 
and the presiding elder. In an address he said 
that the object of the meeting was to establish 
Methodism in Swampscot, and that they had 
reason to believe that the great crowd of per- 
sons present '' represented the sympathy of the 
people in that cause '' ! Mr. Butler expressed 
in his prayer " the hope that at length the gos- 
pel would now be given to this people, so long 
neglected." There was in neither tlie prayers 
nor speeches the least recognition of the fact 
that the gospel ever had been preached there 
before. In such an offensive manner was that 
crowd, embracing the elite of Lynn Methodism, 
taught to reject as no gospel that promulgated 
by the Puritan churches, that which first planted 
New England, and made it the glory of all 
lands. So much for the proselyting feature of 
Methodism. I now ask the real Christians 
among the Methodists if this feature of their 
system, which places them in an attitude of hos- 
tility to all other Christians, which carries a 
warfare against churches that Christ owns by 
most indubitable signs, has their approbation. 
25 * 



294 ESTLu.-xTE OF MPJTHODISM. 

And I appeal to the common sense of the Chris- 
tian world, if such thwartings of an infant church, 
such efforts to pull down what other Christians 
have built, such a dog-in-the-manger process, is 
a Christian work. Ye know to whom Christ 
said, " Ye have taken away the key of knowl- 
edge ; ye entered not in yourselves, and them 
that were entering in ye hindered." Is that 
system which counts among its good works that 
work in Swampscot to be sustained by Christian 
men? 

Next, we invite the attention of such Chris- 
tians to another habit of the system ; that is, 
that of gross caricatures and abuse of Calvinism. 
This is busy with all the peculiar doctrines of 
the system of grace. But as a sample of the 
rest, I shall, for brevity's sake, select only one in- 
stance ; that is, the representation that we teach 
the damnation of infants. It usually comes 
forth in the representation that our preachers 
declare that hell is paved with infants' skulls. 
And one remarkable thing about it is, that the 
regular hearers of Calvinist preachers have 
never heard the doctrine from any preacher, 
while a plentiful sprinkling of Methodists are 
ready to testify that they have heard this, and 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 295 

that Calvinists preach it. But the scandal is 
not only sustained in the gossip of the people, 
but in the written and printed declarations of 
the Methodist ministry, in standard works. Mr. 
Stevens (p. 41) tells us that Methodism " had a 
momentous message to New England," to give 
its remonstrance against such Puritan doctrines 
as that of " infant damnation^ et cetera." And 
he here says that infant damnation was con- 
sidered a fundamental truth at the time of Lee's 
visit to New England. He promises in tho 
sequel to prove this ; but I have not been so for- 
tunate as to find the proof. So, then, it is not 
the mere gossip of the idle ones among the Meth- 
odists that keeps this slander alive : it is written 
and preserved in the standard works of Method- 
ism, and its ministry is responsible for the gos- 
sip. And what are the form and state of that 
gossip? Wherever Methodism exists in any 
considerable numbers, you are sure to find indi- 
viduals in abundance ready to testify on oath 
that with their own ears they heard this or that 
Calvinist minister declare in a sermon that 
hell is paved with infants' skulls. Such wit- 
nesses are always in sufficient number to com- 
mand the general belief of Methodists. Yea, 



296 ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 

the notion that Calyinists believe such a shock- 
ing absurdity is practically a part of the Meth- 
odist creed. It is what Methodism teaches to its 
children, in the house and by the way. As to 
the morality of such a use of such a fabrication 
I shall not speak. It originates not in ignorant 
malice, and cannot plead ignorance in excuse. 
For it is put forth by standard writers, of whom 
it would be an offence to say that they did not 
know the truth in the case. Such writers give 
the key note to the scandalous gabble, and then 
the volunteer witnesses chime in and declare on 
oath that they actually heard the Calvinist min- 
isters preach it. In this way the falsehood has 
been kept alive from the days of Jesse Lee till 
now. It seems from Mr. Stevens's remark, that 
to make war upon us, with this fiction as the 
weapon of assault, was an important part of the 
mission of Methodism ; and it has profited too 
much by it to be willing to let it die. And 
now, the great mass of Methodist minds in this 
vicinity really believe such arrant nonsense, for 
they have drank it in with their mothers' milk, 
and it probably would not be easy to convince 
them that our preaching does not describe such 
paving stones. This falsehood is one of the 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 297 

leading instruments by which the work of Meth- 
odist proselytism is carried on. Now, I wish 
right here to appeal to my Methodist Christian 
friends, and ask them if this form of the wrath 
of man works the righteousness of God ; if that 
can be a good cause which goes forward by such 
means ; and is that body that lives by such 
means actuated by a Christian spirit, and in its 
successes do we see the smiles of God's approba- 
tion ? For the fabricating and keeping alive of 
such a monstrous defamation, not only arc the 
individuals, but the body is, responsible. For it 
is done in its approved standard works, without 
a note of dissent, and with a general concurrence 
of the people. The system, therefore, stands 
indicted for a monstrous libel on a large body 
of God's people, for bearing false witness against 
its neighbor, for a grievous offence against indi- 
vidual character, and against the common Chris- 
tianity. And the like may be said of the whole 
work of- distorting and misrepresenting Calvinist 
doctrines, of which this is a specimen. 

There is another matter — the tendency of the 
system to promote insincerity and a habit of 
hollow pretences. I have occasionally, in for- 
mer times, been a spectator of Methodist revival 



298 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

meetings. Among other things I have been 
struck with the sameness of the recitals of ex- 
perience. There were some dozen or fifteen 
professed converts giving their experience, one 
after another. After I had heard the first two 
I had heard every fact and thought uttered by 
the whole fifteen, who repeated always the ideas, 
and most often the words, uttered by the first. 
It was nothing more than the recital of an old 
lesson from memory. That all these persons 
had had an experience, in all its forms and 
minuteness, to match a description that had been 
stereotyped before they were born, is incredible. 
I could not resist the impression that the whole 
was a mere matter of recitation from memory. 
Now, where young people are encouraged in 
such recitations, they are schooled to the utter- 
ance of untruths respecting their religious ex- 
perience and their relations to God ; and that is 
enough to harden the heart, and sear the con- 
science, and vitiate all experience. 

The like may be said of the exercises of the 
class meeting, which is a mitigated form of the 
Romish confessional. Every member of the class,, 
being called on once a week to give to others 
his internal history, is placed under constant 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 299 

temptations, either to tread a beaten track of 
recital in which actual experience does not run, 
or to rely somewhat upon invention for the ma- 
terials of a story that will make a good appear- 
ance before the class. In either way, the exer- 
cises operate as a school for training the mind to 
the use of false pretences. How far this ma- 
chinery has produced its natural fruits, in actual 
character, it might bo uncharitable to give an 
opinion. 

In intimate connection with this is a spirit of 
self-glorification, in putting forth exaggerated 
representations of the operations and results of 
the system. I need not say in how many forms, 
and in what frequency, boasts are put forth that 
Methodism is the greatest ism of the country ; 
and how often the representation is made, that 
nearly all missionary spirit in Christendom is 
absorbed in Methodism — while in truth the 
whole body in this country has but one incon- 
siderable foreign mission to the heathen, and 
its home missions are missions in no other sense 
than all its preaching stations, supported in part 
from common funds, are missions. Indeed, this 
exaggeration appears in its most expanded form, 
in what we have spoken of as the first postulate 



300 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

of the Methodist theory ; to wit, that there are 
no Christians but Methodist. And then, in the 
reports of gains by reception of members, there 
is a necessary exaggeration which arithmetic 
cannot remedy. The reception of members 
from Methodist revivals is like an attempt to 
fill a sieve with water. The amount that you 
put in does not tell what is in at any given time, 
because the outgoes are a great part of what 
you put in. Hence Methodist statistics, in the 
column of additions of numbers, must show a 
result far above the actual membership. And 
nothing can be more deceptive than accounts of 
revivals, which are published in Methodist pa- 
pers, wherein hundreds or fifties are reported as 
converted in a few days, here and there. If all 
those reported conversions had been genuine, 
the millennium would have been in upon us in 
full blaze before this. But to those who under- 
stand what Methodist revivals usually are, these 
reports convey no deception ; though they must 
be very demoralizing to those who pass them as 
current coin. 

I am here reminded of an instance which 
occurred not far off, some years ago, which illus- 
trates several points of this discourse. An excel- 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 301 

lent Congregational minister, whose charity was 
greater than his caution, went into a partner- 
ship with the Methodists in his place in con- 
ducting meetings in a revival ; not doubting 
that such good and pious men would refrain 
from all unfair and sectarian advantage. He 
brought his young people freely under the 
action of the Methodist ministers. He joined 
them in their preaching and exhortations, and 
all their manoeuvres around the altar. They 
glorified liim in their prayers, laid their hands 
on him and blessed him, and shouted " Glory " 
over the blessed union. Many converts were 
numbered off, from his own people as well as 
the others ; and even before he began to suspect, 
he found all the converts actually connected 
with the Methodist classes. And while, in all 
simplicity, he was playing into their hands, ac- 
cording to the terms of the blessed union, one of 
the ministers had sent off a letter to the Meth- 
odist paper, heralding a glorious revival in that 
place, and declaring, as one of the sources of 
triumph, that the old church on the hill was 
broken up. This was an exaggeration, of course, 
for the old church yet stands ; and yet it showed 
what was the sincerity of the partners, and 
26 



302 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

what end Methodists have ia view in such 
unions. 

My Methodist friends must bear with me 
while I conduct them one step farther, to show 
them a time-servmg feature of their system. 
Mr. Stevens informs us that the written creed 
of Methodism is so framed as to allow its 
preachers to preach any thing between Univer- 
salism and Calvinism ; yea, to preach either of 
these doctrines — for the creed denies neither 
of them. So it warrants all varieties of doc- 
trine that can be required in any latitude, and 
allows the preacher to meet the demands of the 
hearer. Where the popular currents require a 
close proximity to the Universalists, the creed 
does not stand in the way. When a close imi- 
tation of Calvinism is expedient, the creed has 
nothing to say. Father Taylor, in Boston, has a 
warrant in his creed for all his acts of com- 
munion with the Unitarians, from whom he gets 
his bread. 

Indeed, time serving is a natural instinct and 
law of the system. Mr. Stevens tells us that 
the system sprang from no theory or principles, 
but was a mere creature of Providence. That 
is, it was created by force of circumstances, and 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 303 

its modes of action were adjusted to the present 
expediency. These are his words : " It pretends 
to no theoretical foundations, and no divine 
right, but is the result of providential circum- 
stances." And he quotes Mr. Van Buren as 
having said the best thing in its defence ; to 
wit, " It is a noble machine ; it works well ; let it 
alone." That is, principle is nothing ; divine 
right has nothing to do in the structure of a 
church ; right or wrong has no place here. If, 
through the flexibility of its arms, and the elas- 
ticity of its conscience, the machine can bend 
and stretch, so as to combine the advantage of 
opposites, — of both right and wrong doing, — it 
is a noble machine ; it works well ; let it alone. 
This, as far as I have been able to get it, is the 
all-pervading feeling with Methodism ; though 
of late some misgivings have been put forth in 
Methodist papers whether it does work well, 
and whether it does not require overhauling 
and a readjustment. But that is nothing to our 
present purpose, the system is sustained because 
it is supposed to work well, irrespective of any 
warrant for it in the Bible. And so it becomes 
a most practised time server. Wherever there 
is Methodist preaching the doctrines are Meth- 



304 ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 

odist doctrines, in general, but contracted or 
expanded to meet tlie popular demand of that 
13lace ; not what every hearer demands, — for 
among contrary demands that is impossible, — 
but what, in the judgment of a skilful tactician, 
will carry with it the most of popular favor. 
This doctrinal elasticity of the system was 
turned to account in Swampscot, when an ad- 
vantage might come from fraternizing with 
Unitarian Baptists.. In communities where it 
would damage the credit of the system to ex- 
change with Unitarians, it is not done. In 
large communities, like Boston, there are some 
Methodist ministers that thus exchange, and some 
that do not ; so that advantages may come from 
contrary sources. 

The time serving of the system also appears 
in that policy before alluded to, which knows no 
Christians out of the pale of Methodism, except 
when some advantage is to be gained by union 
or a special letting forth of charity. When 
Methodism has funds to beg, or lines of inter- 
course with others to form for proselyting ends, 
or credit to gain in a community through the 
indorsement of others, then union prayer meet- 
ings are delightful. Christians of other denom- 



ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 60b 

inations arc special brothers and sisters, and 
exchanges of pulpits with those Calvinists that 
preach a horrible predestination and a paving 
of hell with infant skulls are one of the neces- 
saries of Christian life. 

I will add but one more thought under this 
head — that of time serving in the use of female 
preaching. There stands the divine prohibition, 
written in letters of light, so that he who runs 
may read : " Let the woman learn in silence 

WITH ALL SUBJECTION. BUT I SUFFER NOT A 
WOMAN TO TEACH, NOR TO USURP AUTHORITY OVER 
THE MAN." " Let YOUR WOMEN KEEP SILENCE IN 
THE CHURCHES, FOR IT IS NOT PERMITTED FOR 
THEM TO SPEAK, FOR THEY ARE COMMANDED TO BE 
UNDER OBEDIENCE, AS ALSO SAITH THE LAW ; '' 

that is, the Old Testament. Now, we all know 
what obedience in the church the Old Testa- 
ment required of women ; excluding them from 
all the forms of public teaching of religion, 
except when speaking by miraculous inspiration. 
And this is just the exception which Paul makes ; 
and he tells us that just that obedience which 
the law, or the Old Testament, required, Chris- 
tianity requires. Now, what can be unmistaka- 
ble if this is not ? Yet, touching this matter 
2G* 



306 ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 

in the words of Mr. Stevens, Methodism knows 
no divine right, no right of God, to command 
what Methodist use and circumstances have 
found to be inexpedient. Methodism, being the 
creature of providential circumstances, has an 
inherent right to use whatever has been found 
to work well, though every page of inspired 
truth were to cry out against it. In its work 
of corrupting the minds of the young, it has 
found a vast advantage in mingling in its 
scenes of excitement some touches of comedy, 
and some varieties gained by female eloquence. 
The music is more complete when female voices 
sustain their parts. This female eloquence is an 
indispensable element to give to the scenes of the 
Methodist revival attractions which will make it 
compete, on its own ground, with the exhibitions 
at the Lyceum Hall, or other place of shows. 
And another glorious advantage of it is, that it 
is an attraction of which those Christians that 
follow the Bible cannot avail themselves. Here 
the liberty of Methodism, its liberty to trample 
on the word of God, is turned to a good ac- 
count ; and boasts of this liberty and freedom 
from divine obligation are very taking with the 
throng, that care nothing for the word of God. 



ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 307 

So they sa}^, " It is a noble macliine ; it works 
well ; let it alone." What care they for the words 
of Paul, or of the Holy Ghost? They have 
tried their machine, and found that it works 
well, and what need they more ? Most cer- 
tainly it does work well for their ends. But an 
end that is served by a point blank resistance 
of the word of God is a godless end. God 
does not work against God. God in Method- 
ism does not work against God in the Bible. 

Perhaps it will be said that these good peo- 
ple really helieve that the Bible allows this 
practice. If they do, it only shows the power 
of the system to warp even the understanding, 
and make its convictions subserve its occasions. 
The system has a fearful power, if it can blind 
the mind against the plainest truths of the 
Bible. 

But it will be said that Methodism is sincere 
and conscientious in all its modes and move- 
ments ; and' in that it has a right to public con- 
sideration. But there is no greater mischief in 
this world than a perverted conscience, and sin- 
cerity in the wrong. Why, the late Emperor of 
Russia was not, in common life and in social 
relations, what would be called a wicked man. 



308 ESTIMATE OP METHODISM. 

He was conscientious and sincere in his fa- 
natical yiew of destiny. He verily thought 
he did God service in provoking that war 
whose mere beginnings have caused rivers of 
blood to flow. He was conscientious, but his 
conscience has been the cause of more 'human 
woe than half a million of the most wicked 
wretches now on earth. A warped conscience 
is a more fearful instrument of mischief than 
a want of conscience. It is told of a New 
Zealand chief, that in his last illness his con- 
science awoke, and he was stung with remorse 
in view of one special act of his life ; and that 
act was his failure to do a work of vengeance. 
His father, after seizing a European vessel and 
murdering the crew, had, by his ignorance, set 
fire to the powder magazine and destroyed him- 
self. Many years after a few Christian mission- 
aries reached the island. And what especially 
awoke the remorse of the dying man was, that 
he had kindly entertained those missionaries, 
instead of killing and eating them, to avenge 
the death of his father — killed by European 
powder, though by his own hand. This was the 
result of a perverted conscience. The famous 
Emperor Charles V. had a like perverted con- 



ESTIMATE OF METHODISM. 309 

science ; and when lie was conscious of drawing 
near to the grave, he too suffered remorse ; and 
for what ? For not having violated his plighted 
faith and honor, and killed Luther when he had 
him in his hands. He uttered his conscientious 
convictions when he said to the monks of Yuste, 
" The heretics must be burned. Not to burn 
them would be to incur the sin which I incurred 
when I let Luther escape. I did not put him to 
death because I would not violate the promise 
and the safe conduct which I had given to him. 
But I was wrong. I had no right to forgive a 
crime against God. It was my duty, without 
having any regard to my promise, to avenge the 
injury which his heresy had inflicted on God. I 
should have cut short his progress.'' Such was 
the conscience of one of the slirewdest of men 
and the greatest of monarchs. And it may show 
what a great evil is the human conscience under 
a wrong direction. And an immense responsi- 
bility rests on all to bring their conscience un- 
der the light and direction of eternal truth. 
The weakest of all excuses for an erroneous 
practice is, that it has come from a misdirected 
conscience. 



CHAPTER X. 

Modes of Defence against Methodist Aggression. 

In previous chapters I have spoken to my 
Methodist Christian friends to help them to 
a true estimate of the merits of their own 
system. I have now to speak to my other 
Christian friends of the course to be taken 
to stand unharmed against the busy proselyting 
agencies of Methodism. 

The first step is to get a right estimate 
of Methodism, and its claims to consideration, 
as an evangelizing agent. The present appre- 
hensions of most Christians are founded on too 
superficial a view, and will not be justified by an 
intimate inspection of operations and results. 
They wofully deceive themselves, who think that 
a great part of the work of bringing the world to 
the possession of the character required in the 
New Testament is to be done by Methodism. And 
the sooner we are undeceived in this thing the 
better. A system that works by compromises 
with the world — that seeks not so much to 

(310) 



MODES OP DEFENCE. dll 

bring the hearts of men up to the level of 
Christianity, as to bring religion down to the 
level of the tastes and passions of man — never 
will bring the world to Christ. And such Ave 
have shown this system to be in all its time- 
serving expedients. Its woman preaching, its 
comic operations at the altar and in the camp 
meeting, its boasts of liberty to do unlawful 
things, its liberality towards grosser error- 
ists, its rejection of the doctrines of Scripture 
that are most offensive to the enemies of God, and 
its nameless forms of appeal to vulgar passions 
have this tendency. Now, the spirit which has 
dictated these things is not from above, and will 
not elevate, but depress, those into whom it is 
breathed ; and not until the mind has come into 
the true idea of the tendencies of the thing is 
it prepared to use its full strength in standing 
against it. 

Allow me, then, a few words here upon this 
matter. Much is thought of the energy of the 
Methodist system, by many who themselves 
would not be willing to come under its mo- 
narchical government. They think there is a 
class of minds whom it reaches favorably. One 
has said that " some are foreordained to be 



312 MODES OF DEFENCE. 

Methodists," meaning, we suppose, just tliis. 
But there is a fallacy in the assumption that 
true religion, on the whole, is promoted by such a 
compound of truth and error, mixed to the taste 
of persons of a peculiar temperament, and lead- 
ing to results so diverse from those of uncor- 
rupted truth. 

Whatever the system may be here, it is char- 
itably supposed by many that it is doing greater 
good at the west. But Methodism is not one 
thing in the west and another thing in the east. 
The same rules of action prevail, and the same 
minds direct the action, both east and west. 
True, " distance lends enchantment to the view." 
The thorn ord thistle are not seen in the far-off 
landscape. To a considerable extent, Methodism 
at the west, being a lighter troop, has preceded 
other denominations, and so, for better or worse, 
has gathered in many that had emigrated thither 
from other churches. But careful inspection of 
the western field will beget serious doubts of the 
general result. One of the greatest obstacles 
which our home missionaries find to the spread 
of true religion there, comes from the thwart- 
ings and the corrupting influence of Methodist 
ministers. This is a fair inference from the 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 313 

many cautious statements in the published re- 
ports of the missionaries. If the united convic- 
tion of the whole body of them could have 
expression, it would doubtless be, that it had been 
better for the west if a Methodist minister had not 
set foot upon it. We grant that in many in- 
stances, in the absence of a purer gospel, it has 
done good — a thing which may be granted even 
of Eomanism. But that its good overbalances 
its evils is not so clear. While in these in- 
stances it does comparative good, it does many 
evils by the spread of errors, by corrupting the 
public views of religion, by dividing and crip- 
pling infant societies, by bringing religion into 
contempt through the loose principles and scan- 
dalous practices there more than here allowed 
in many of its ministers, by burning over the 
ground and preparing it for a growth of Uni- 
versalism and infidelity. Yet it is customary to 
look to the west as the jBeld of its most kindly 
operations. And if there is not on that field a 
preponderance of good, where shall we find it ? 
The question is not, let me say again, whether 
there are not good men and good results con- 
nected with the system, but whether, on the 
whole, the system does more harm than good. 
27 



314 MODES OF DEFENCE. 

The fact that it has great success decides noth- 
ing. The question is, whether the success enures 
to religion or irreligion. When in Lynn I 
count the multitudes which in Methodist revivals 
have been born into Universalism and irreligion, 
probably exceeding the present members of the 
Methodist churches, I cannot but feel that the 
preponderance is against the system. If the 
fruits be gathered, and the good be thrown into 
one scale, and the bad into the opposite, I great- 
ly fear that the bad will preponderate. The 
Christian mind comes with reluctance to such a 
conclusion. That the largest religious denomi- 
nation in the United States is working more evil 
than good is a discouraging idea. Yet, if it be 
true, it may go far to account for the fact, that 
the advance of pure religion is so dispropor- 
tionate to the agencies seemingly at work for it. 
If added to the native wickedness of man, and 
all the other causes impeding the progress, we 
have the immense power of this organization to 
thwart and corrupt, it is no wonder if our prog- 
ress is so slow. 

It is no new thing for the cause of Christ to 
be hindered by many of his seeming and real 
friends. Baxter, in his directions to the con- 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 315 

verted, says, *' I tell you with sLame and grief 
of heart, that abundance of weak, unsettled 
professors, that we hope have upright meanings 
in the main, have been more powerful instru- 
ments of Satan, to do his work in hindering the 
gospel, in vilifying the ministry, in dividing the 
church, and hindering the reformation, than most 
of the notoriously profane have been. * * * 
Would he have the truth opposed, and error 
and darkness promoted, who must do it but 
professors of the truth ? Persuade some of them 
that truth is error and error is truth, and the work 
will be done. They will furiously march out 
against their Master, and think they do him ser- 
vice while fighting against him." 

The common reputation which the Methodist 
system has for having done great things for 
religion is no bar to a scrutiny of its results. 
The actual evils flowing from it, of which we 
have spoken, give at least prima facie ground for 
an inquest. After allowing all the good which 
any discriminating orthodox mind ascribes to it, 
we are compelled to throw into the opposite 
scale a greater amount of evil done by it. 

Most of the forms of corrupted Christianity, 
with Romanism in the van, at some of their 



316 MODES OP DEFENCE. 

stages stood before the Christian world in the 
equivocal position which this now holds — many 
doubting of them, and most hoping favorably, till 
finally an adverse judgment was passed upon 
their preponderant results. Now, the great ques- 
tion is forcing itself on the attention of the 
churches, whether this broad and efficient agency 
on the whole affects the interests of Christianity 
favorably or unfavorably — whether it produces 
a healthy or a morbid action ? If the conclu- 
sion to which I have come be well founded, the 
church will sooner or later awake to the convic- 
tion that it is among the wholesale causes of 
corrupting the minds of men, and turning them 
away from the faith in Christ. If the religion 
of the New Testament is to prevail, the time 
must come when its friends shall take the 
attitude of defence against it. 

Providence has cast my lot on the ground of 
its boasted achievements. I am now in the 
twentieth year of my residence in the garden of 
its luxuriance, and I feel bound to give to the 
world my testimony as to its results. There is no 
better Methodism in this country than in Lynn. 
Hither its best ministers are sent, and its 
choicest agencies are employed. Find it want- 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 317 

ing here, and you find it wanting every where. 
Having summered and wintered it, I feel bound 
to give my mature judgment, that it has done 
more harm than good. If its doctrines and cor- 
rupting revival measures never had obtained 
here, and the field had been left open to mission- 
ary action connected with scriptural doctrines, 
such as must then have come in, it is not credi- 
ble that irreligion would have here secured so 
broad a field. 

But if this sad conclusion is well grounded, 
the first thing needful to stand firmly against the 
aggression is, to know it — to know that the 
aggression is one not of true religion, but of a 
false. 

Another question respects what forms of ac- 
.tion are expedient, touching the immediate 
efforts of proselyting. As to this I would 
remark that patience is one of the first re- 
quisites. I have been wont to say to myself 
when thus attacked, This onset has been suf- 
fered to take place by a wise Providence, per- 
haps, for purposes of chastisement and stimulat- 
ing to duty. I regret the injury that it must do, but 
am not responsible for that. I will take it as an 
admonition that I am not sufficientlv awake and 



318 MODES OP DEFENCE. 

diligent. So, when thus assailed, I have usually 
begun with my own mind, committing the cause 
to God, and seeking his direction and aid in the 
regulation of my own spirit and action. As to 
action more specific and direct than this, I have 
rarely been inclined to it. I never undertook to 
run a race with zealous proselyters. For many 
years I have stood in perfect silence, and seen 
them work, only endeavoring to apply myself to 
my own proper work with greater diligence and 
prayerfulness, thinking it lawful thus to bring 
good out of evil. 

But this " masterly inactivity,'' though gener- 
ally best, does not exclude the striking of an 
effectual blow for the truth, when a specially 
favorable opportunity offers. There is a time to 
speak, and a time to be silent. Generally, when 
the heart of the church is alive, and its hands 
are active in promoting vital religion, it has its 
best defence from the hostile bands. But when 
it does this, it is best prepared to improve the 
opportunities that occur, now and then, to strike 
a blow that will tell. And the great fault of our 
ministry in this particular is, that they have, to 
too great extent, assumed that no defences are 
to be made. They have been delinquent in the 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 319 

duty of contending earnestly for the faith once 
delivered to the saints. Fas est ah hoste doceri. 
We fnid that Lee and the other Methodist pio- 
neers forbore their assaults when they were 
firmly met. But now almost universally our 
ministers are passive under Methodist assaults, 
and dispute no ground with them, in fear of be- 
ing found contending against Christian men. It 
is this cautious policy of our ministers that has 
given Methodism its main success. What could 
it ask more of us than that we should make no 
resistance? While we should avoid needless 
contests, we should be able to discern and im- 
prove the proper times to repel an assault. 
Christianity does not require us to "bear all 
things " in the form of allowing all truths to be 
trodden down without an effort at protection. 

But what shall be done, especially when the 
snares are laid for our youth to be taken by ap- 
peals to their curiosity in the comic actings had 
in the so called revival operations ? It is a plain 
duty, in the light of Scripture and of facts, to 
show our children the true tendency of these 
things. While we speak of such operations as 
revivals produced by the Spirit of God, we give 
our sanction to their being thus treated by our 



320 MODES OF DEFENCE. 

cliildren ; and so we open the way to tlieir being 
drawn in. But if we take up the conclusion that 
they are simply corruptions of revivals, it will 
become our duty to treat them as such before 
our children. We may not say that the Spirit 
of God never works, in spite of the repellent 
influences connected with them. It is not ours 
to limit the Holy One ; for he often works good 
in strange connections with evil. But, in view 
of the aggregate results of such measures, we 
are bound to deprecate them, and in all ways to 
discountenance them ; to make no secret of our 
regrets that some good men will do such things ; 
yea, to let it be known that we regard such 
things as no part of Christianity, but scandals in 
its way. Especially is it the duty of parents to 
restrain the curiosity of their children in the 
matter, by explaining and giving them to see 
why they dread such operations, by making clear 
to their minds the irreligious tendencies. In 
places where these snares are frequently laid, 
this should be a substantial part of family in- 
struction. These things should be in thine heart, 
and thou should st teach them diligently to thy 
children. It is time to have done with that kind 
of charity which, out of tenderness to plausible 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 321 

errorists, forbears to tell the truth. Those come- 
dies have no claim to the name of revivals ; and 
your children should be taught this with their 
first lessons. 

Grant all that is claimed on the score of the 
sincerity of the actors — grant that this or that 
preacher sometimes preaches excellent sermons, 
and that a deep solemnity is sometimes produced 
in their meetings ; but these mingle with so much 
that is of a contrary character as to spoil the 
result. But our judgment is determined not so 
much by present appearances as results after- 
wards developed. Our denomination once had 
some bitter experience in this line. Some twen- 
ty-five years ago there came in upon us, to a lim- 
ited extent, a like visitation in connection with 
protracted meetings. Both the doctrines and 
the measures bordered closely upon those of the 
Methodists. Those spurious revivals spread like 
wildfire in Western New York, and the results 
were most disastrous. Heresies abounded, and 
churches were filled with spurious converts, by 
whom scandals were multiplied and the ministry 
was crippled. 

It matters not under what auspices the thing 
is done. If, in a so called revival, where one is 



322 MODES OF DEFENCE. 

converted nine are deceived, the work is essen- 
tially one of ruin ; and the ruin goes on by the 
credit which is given to it through the false 
charity exercised towards it by other Christians. 
In current phrase, we speak of such things as re- 
vivals, and we publish them in our papers as 
revivals, while, in fact, no dependence is to be 
placed upon them. If those whose sentiments 
give tone to Christian society would speak what 
they think, the evil would be checked. But they 
have been loath to do this, lest it should grieve 
some good men. Their kindly feelings have hin- 
dered the utterance of important truth. So our 
young people have been drawn in under the ap- 
prehension that what they were doing had the 
common sanction of Christians. Every Chris- 
tian owes it to his generation to be outspoken 
in this matter, and let his real convictions be 
known. 

Another question of duty touches exchanges 
of pulpits. When I came to this place I fol- 
lowed the course of my predecessors, whom I 
supposed to know more of the right in the case 
than I did ; but I soon saw what made me ex- 
ceedingly reluctant to exchange. Though there 
is here so much interconnection of the families 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 323 

of different denominations that we must needs 
disoblige our own friends not to exchange with 
Methodists, I found I must suppress my own con- 
victions of right in order to do it. Methodist 
pulpits here, as every where else, abound in 
abusive misrepresentations and gross carica- 
tures of our doctrines, including the famous 
imputation of preaching infant damnation. In 
Methodist prayer meetings public prayers were 
offered for me as an unconverted man. I saw 
that around me the great body of Universalists 
and infidels had been at least once converts, and 
that Methodism, by a wholesale operation, was 
working ruin. So I felt that I could not sanc- 
tion, by such an act of fellowship, such a work 
of ruin. I could not indorse for a system that 
is sO abusive to my own, and that, in the place 
of its most effectual operations, produces such a 
preponderance of tares instead of wheat. I dis- 
tinguished between the men and the system. Of 
the Christian character of some of the Method- 
ists I have no doubt ; and some of the ministers 
that have been here are worthy of all Christian 
regard ; but for the system, and its preponderant 
results, I cannot indorse. 

Next, what should be our course of preaching 



324 MODES OF DEFENCE. 

when we are surrounded by Methodists ? As to 
my own course here, I may say, that in my pulpit 
exercises for these twenty years I have not known 
Methodism. I have aimed to preach the whole 
truth, just as if that form of error did not exist, 
not dwelling on particular doctrines, more or less, 
because they were so much controverted here, 
lest, if I did it, either more or less, I should mar 
the proportion and force of the doctrines. I felt 
that by turning aside neither to the right hand 
nor to the left — neither to repel Methodism nor 
to conciliate it — I should best do my work ; and 
it is now my clear conviction that the influence 
of this church, and of its ministrations of truth, 
is stronger than if I had, by exchanges, indorsed 
for Methodism. Now, after all efforts at prose- 
lyting on the one hand, and the want of effort on 
the other, we are willing to compare balances of 
gain and loss. 

Still, I think there have been times when 
this silence was an error — when manifest good 
might have come from a direct effort ; and I 
think our ministers have generally erred on the 
side of silence. Strife, even for truth and right, 
is uncomfortable, and, in the view of many, 
odious. For many reasons, personal and social, 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 325 

we prefer to suffer rather than contend ; and if 
it were we^ and not the truth, that suffered, we 
might. But the more I have reflected, the more 
I think that we have erred in this matter. This 
policy of inaction binds us hand and foot against 
doing any thing for the truth, when so much is 
done against it. Lee was right in policy when 
he chose for the fields of his operations those 
places where the Congregational ministers were 
good easy souls, making no opposition, and 
where the deacons let the good lady provide 
him a dinner without their filling up the time 
with vexatious discourse about doctrines. 

One essential way of resisting Methodism is, 
to keep the people rooted and grounded in the 
truth — in those doctrines of grace which are a 
terror to Methodism, by teaching them fully in 
the pulpit. Sabbath school, and family. This 
gives the people a power of discrimination, and 
an ability to detect the arts of deceivers. But 
there are times which specially call us to speak 
with reference to existing errors ; and wisdom is 
profitable to direct as to these times. Then the 
doctrines of grace give us a clear advantage 
against Methodism ; for they prepare the minds 
of the people to take up and carry out the dis- 
28 



326 MODES OF DEFENCE. 

cussions ; while the people reared under Meth- 
odism are, for the most part, specially deficient 
in doctrinal knowledge and discrimination. He 
that is girt about with truth is strong in his 
positions. 

Perhaps God has suffered such a heresy to 
come in in order to compel the churches to live 
by the doctrines of grace, and give them an ear- 
nest inculcation. The force of Christianity very 
much inheres in them ; and if the churches fail 
to bring them forth in their strength, they be- 
come weak and decay. These onsets are the 
goads to stimulate us to the duty of a thorough 
indoctrination of the people. 

Some feel that because we must needs have 
so much intercourse with our Methodist neigh- 
bors we must not come in conflict with their 
views ; but this is to betray God's truth for 
man's favor, and to prepare the ground for sow- 
ing the seeds of destructive error. No ; let the 
people be made to know that the difference be- 
tween us and Methodism is important, and that 
great responsibilities attach to traversing the 
boundary. 

As to union meetings with Methodists, — an- 
other point of inquiry, — I have observed that 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 327 

Methodists never encourage such unions, except 
when they feel sure of turning them to a secta- 
rian advantage. A missionary, who has been 
largely employed by the American Sunday 
School Union, in forming union schools in the 
destitute places in the west, gave it as the re- 
sult of his experience, that, while all other evan- 
gelical denominations in such places are free to 
unite for such a purpose, the Methodist ministry 
invariably set their faces as a flint against such 
unions. The Methodist people frequently unite 
in forming such schools in the absence of their 
ministers ; but as soon as the ministers return, 
the schools are broken up. He gave me several 
striking instances, showing the application of 
this invariable rule of Methodism at the west. 
And if this rule of having no unions, except a 
union to promote Methodism, is limited to the 
west or east, I have been deceived. The po- 
sition of Methodism, as to the great union soci- 
eties, is in essential harmony with this rule. 
With the Tract Society, in which most denomi- 
nations unite for publishing the gospel to the 
destitute, by colporteurs and the press, it has 
nothing to do. With the Sunday School Union, 
and all its ministrations to the destitute, on fields 



328 MODES OF DEFENCE. 

where no one sect is strong enough to stand 
alone, it lias nothing to do, except to thwart its 
agents whenever it can. And till within a few 
years it stood as entirely aloof from the Ameri- 
can Bible Society, till it found that to be a bad 
policy. Now, it would seem to be plain that it 
is not our duty to hold union prayer meetings, 
or any other unions with those who will have 
no unions but unions to promote Methodism. 

But why do I speak of this ? If Methodists 
want no unions they will ask for none. True. 
But when they want them to promote Method- 
ism, they do seek them. When that " old church 
on the hill " was to be broken up, the union that 
was needful, as the means to the end, was a very 
desirable and blessed thing. And on some oc- 
casions even we have been pressed with trouble- 
some solicitations to go into such unions. 

One thing to be guarded against in other 
places is not so needful here. In most places 
where Methodism comes in for an assault on 
existing churches, its strength consists in its 
weakness. It commences onsets and puts in 
circulation abusive caricatures of received doc- 
trines, accuses others of teaching infant damna- 
tion, and then, if the accused even repel these 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 329 

aspersions the cry of persecution is raised — 
" See, here we are a poor, feeble, inoffensive 
band, persecuted and crushed by the hand of the 
strong." And with unreflecting minds such a 
wicked appeal to sympathy has its effect. Hence 
most have forborne to treat the mischief accord- 
ing to its merits, till it has gained a foothold. 
This has been its unvarying policy in all its 
propagation. But fortunately it cannot have 
application here, where it boasts of its numbers 
and strength. Here we may speak the truth 
without charge of persecution. For we are the 
weak and the down-trodden. And a poor thing 
indeed must Methodism be, if it cannot protect 
itself from persecution under the eaves of its 
cathedral church, where it has Jve churches, 
and five pastors, and one pastor of pastors, or 
bishop's suffragan. 

But I must not dismiss this subject without 
one remark to those who have taken up con- 
clusions against vital Christianity from their 
delusion, adopted in spurious revivals. Your 
conclusion is legitimate from your premises, but 
your premises are bad. You have come to 
them not by the light of the word of God, but 
by pinning your faith on the sleeves of most 
28^ 



330 MODES OP DEFENCE. 

incompetent guides. " These be blind leaders 
of the blind ; and if the blind lead the blind, 
shall not they both fall into the ditch ? " 

The grand fallacy of your conclusion is, that 
vital godliness, regeneration by the power of 
God, is nothing more than is usually experienced 
in the hocus pocus comedies of Methodist camp 
meetings. To such a conclusion you never come 
by comparing those operations and results with 
the word of God. And yet that written word 
of God is your only standard of duty here, and 
your only rule of judgment at the last day. To 
the law and the testimony ; if they speak not 
according to these, it is because there is no light 
in them. 

You are now resting in your conclusion that 
it is safe to live without God in the world, and 
safe to die as godless men die, because you have 
proved the spuriousness of a Methodist conver- 
sion — because you have detected one of the 
most shallow delusions, a delusion which the 
Bible repudiates, and for which the Bible is no 
more responsible than for the Tales of the Ara- 
bian Nights. Was that freak of fancy, that 
heat of passion, or that impulse to speak in a 
meeting, all that the Son of God inculcated, 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 331 

when he said, "Except a man be born of wa- 
ter and of the Spirit he cannot see the king- 
dom of God"? Is no more than this intended 
in putting off the old man and in putting on the 
new man ; in being renewed in the temper of 
the mind ; in passing from death unto life, and 
from the power of Satan unto God ? " If any 
man be in Christ he is a new creature ; old things 
are passed away, and all things are become new. 
Ye are God's workmanship, created in Christ 
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before 
ordained that we should walk in them." Now, 
after you shall have experienced all that the 
mind of the Spirit expresses in such language as 
this — if then you fall from it, because you find 
it a delusion, you may consider yourselves safe 
in irreligion, if safety be possible in a godless 
universe. But as it is, you are shutting out the 
light let down from heaven, and making a fear- 
ful plunge in the dark. 

But these requisitions of the holy word must 
one day be met. You must then come to test 
the question, whether there is not something in 
the soul's new creation in Christ of which you 
have had no conception. And it is better to 



332 MODES OF DEFENCE. 

test it now, before an open Bible, than hereafter 
in an open eternity. 

But if 3"our understandings are darkened, 
being alienated from the life of God, because 
of the blindness that is in your hearts, so that 
you can form no true conception of godliness, 
yet one would think that your view of the re- 
sults of this delusion on the present character of 
men might create some misgivings. It requires 
no spiritual discernment to see that that course 
which you have travelled, beginning at the Meth- 
odist camp meeting, or altar, and leading down- 
ward, — that course which is here trod by thou- 
sands, — is a manifest course of injury to mind and 
morals. It is among us now very generally seen 
that the main cause of the deficiencies of morals, 
of sound intellect, of staidness of habits, as com- 
pared with other towns, which has given Lynn 
the name it has abroad, comes from the source 
which I have described — that the influence be- 
ginning at the Methodist altar, and proceeding 
down through Universalist and infidel channels, 
issues in just those things which are a disgrace 
to our body politic. And one would naturally 
think that any one seeing this, and finding him- 
self in possession of that experience, would take 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 333 

the alarm. Were I in that position, — looking 
back to the time when I miderwent the common 
delusion, and then seeing myself on the lower 
steps of the descending scale, and looking 
around me, and seeing the marks of the moral 
scathing upon the mass of those who had trav- 
elled the same road, — that of itself would be 
enough to give me the alarm. As ever the 
movements of the popular mind peculiar to 
Lynn reminded me of their source, the question 
would return upon me, Can this be truth ? Can 
this be a good tree, which produces such fruits ? 
As ever I saw what special patronage all the 
shows and attractions for idle ones find in Lynn ; 
how the mind of thousands here is tinder to 
every flying spark of temptation ; what a small 
breath will raise a breeze of excitement ; how 
often the town is disgraced by indignation meet- 
ings, on the most frivolous occasions, and by 
rowdy assemblages ; wliat entertainments are 
here given to every impostor, — I should be 
alarmed to find myself under the action of the 
causes which have produced these results. We 
have, within a few days, had a shocking speci- 
men of Lynn rowdyism, showing to what a 
depth of degradation and brutality the taste and 



334 MODES OP DEFENCE. 

moral sense of a certain class of our people have 
attained. A vast crowd assembled as an escort 
of two lunatics, farcically nominated for the 
presidency of the United States, and paraded 
through the streets with an indescribable dis- 
play of fantasticals, and then gathered into the 
Lyceum Hall for proceedings that would dis- 
grace the heathen, — riding the lunatics across 
the stage on the stuffed skin of a swine — an 
appropriate idol for such worshippers. And so 
extensive is the taste for such inhuman sports in 
Lynn that a daily paper, patronizing, reporting, 
and applauding them, finds employment. Nor 
are our papers enough. Reports of the same are 
sent to Boston to be published, as if we needed 
more presses than we have to blazon abroad our 
own infamy. This recent instance is chosen for 
illustration, not because it is worse than others 
constantly occurring, but because it is recent. 
Something of the kind, showing in some form a 
heathenized and brutal taste of a multitude of 
people here, is an every-day affair. And those 
who do such things, and have pleasure in them 
that do them, also take pleasure in publishing 
them to the world. They glory in their shame, 
and involve the whole town in it. It is these 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 335 

things, more than any thing else, that have made 
the name of Lynn a hissing and a byword 
abroad. xVnd these things we think we have 
traced to their true source. Now, it seems to 
me that if I had cast off all sense of religious 
obligation, by having passed the process de- 
scribed, I should still be alarmed to find myself 
under the action of causes which have produced 
these results. Such demonstrations of heathen- 
ism here made are imperative as a voice from 
heaven, requiring me to give them a faithful ut- 
terance. Many good men, doubtless, think me 
imprudent, and having a zeal that is not accord- 
ing to knowledge ; but that alters not the course 
of duty for me. I have tried to see things in 
that light ; I have labored and prayed to know 
the path of duty ; and I have even deferred 
taking up this history for years after I was con- 
vinced that it ought to be done, for this reason, 
among others, that I saw that I could not dis- 
charge my duty in it without traversing this very 
ground. And if I ever did a painful work from 
an urgent sense of duty, it was this. I have 
forecast the scenes of my dying bed, and asked 
myself whether I have put down any thing here 
which I would then wish to blot, with a pur- 



336 MODES OF DEFENCE. 

pose to blot it now, if there be occasion. Still 
mj sense of duty in the case falters not. As I 
expected, I have been assailed by all manner of 
missiles, and with imputations of the worst of 
motives ; but even from these I have derived no 
aid to reach another conclusion. Many wonder 
at my imprudence, and some pretend to think 
me a maniac. "But whether we be beside our- 
selves, it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is 
for your cause ; for the love of Christ constrain- 
eth us." Whether willingly or unwillingly, a dis- 
pensation is committed to me ; and woe be to mo 
if I forbear to sustain this burden of the word 
of the Lord. 

But it has been often said that though these 
things are all true, they ought not to be publicly 
exhibited. To meet this suggestion, I have only 
to ask the reader to turn back, and see what 
things have been here told, and what a ruinous 
process has here been exposed, and then say, If 
these things are so, is it not a plain duty to call 
public attention to them, that the way may be 
open for a reformation ? If there is a severity 
in the statements that does not inhere in the 
facts, I am an offender. If the facts are severe, 
the fault is with those who do and encourage 



MODES OF DEFENCE. 337 

them. If it is wrong for me even to speak of 
such things, how wrong must it be for those who 
do them ! If this system is working such injury, 
shall the injury be concealed that it may be con- 
tinued, or shall it be brought to light and cor- 
rected ? Is it a Christian spirit that dictates 
the concealment of a wrong, lest the exposure 
for correction shall hurt the feelings of the 
wrong doers ? I would have gladly convinced 
myself that silence was my duty ; but I reasoned 
thus with myself : Here is a manifest and grow- 
ing evil, largely patronized by the popular mind ; 
the current is setting strong towards destruction, 
and involving thousands in its sweep ; there is 
no probability that it will correct itself, if some 
one does not point out the evil involved with the 
seeming good ; individuals will see and deplore 
the error, but no corrective force will be im- 
bodied against it ; however great the evil may 
be, it is sure to continue to spread while no pub- 
lic and earnest voice of reproof is uttered ; but 
there is a peradventure that a faithful remon- 
strance put forth against it may so far arrest 
attention, secure public conviction, and elicit 
the suppressed thoughts of others, as to imbody 
a moral force which will check the flowing tide, 
29 



338 MODES OF DEFENCE. 

and perhaps turn the current. But for this pur- 
pose no timid or half-suppressed utterance will 
do. Mere hints and insinuations that there pos- 
sibly may be something wrong in the case will 
not suffice : the remonstrance must be outspoken 
and full. But that will awake angry feeling, and 
put in motion that unruly member, that imbodies 
" a world of iniquity," for the destruction of my 
peace. This evil I must incur, or sit down and 
do nothing for the correction of the other and 
greater evil. But why should I incur it ? It 
does not exist among the people of my charge. 
I am not responsible for what is done by others. 
But is it so ? Am I a minister of Christ ? and 
am I placed, in the providence of God, in cir- 
cumstances where words of mine can have effect 
for the correction of any evils patronized by any 
class of men ? I am responsible for those words. 
Wherever the authority of Christ extends, the 
duties of the ministers of Christ are commen- 
surate with their influence. 

The case presented to me, then, was this : 
These evils will continue, if I hold my peace, 
for they are not such as will correct themselves ; 
but if I do what I can to give an effective testi- 
mony against them, I may strike a first blow 



MODES OP DEFENCE. 339 

towards their destruction ; and if I fail, I shall 
have discharged a plain duty, and secured a 
good conscience. 

Now, in executing this purpose, I have per- 
formed one of the most painful duties of my 
whole life. I have felt that a minister is not 
left wholly to his own pleasure in the choice of 
his themes, but must sometimes take up those 
which peril his own peace and comfort. If he 
sees principles and habits prevailing that are 
ruinous to men and dishonorable to God, he is 
bound to reprove them. If he has a heart loyal 
to Him who sent him, ever and anon these words 
will ring in his ears : " Son of man, I have made 
thee a watchman to the house of Israel ; there- 
fore hear the word at my mouth, and give them 
warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, 
' Thou shalt surely die,' and thou givest him not 
warning, the same wicked man shall die in his 
iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine 
hand." 

I have not done what I have for my own grati- 
fication. I too well anticipated what a strife of 
tongues it would kindle around me. The loss 
of the good will of my neighbors is as important 
to me as to others ; and I trust I have not the 



340 MODES OP DEFENCE. 

folly wantonly to incur it ; but if fidelity in the 
discharge of duty requires the sacrifice, it is my 
daily prayer that I may not shrink from it. I 
am happy to say that I have now finished that 
part of my work which consists of strictures on 
any other denomination than our own. From 
the commanding position which Methodism oc- 
cupies in the religious history of Lynn, I could 
not fail of giving prominence to that, and of 
showing its relations to other developments. 
Now that that is done, the disagreeable part of 
my duty will be confined chiefly to our own 
body, of whose errors I have been no more 
sparing than I have of those of others. I have 
intended that this exhibition of truth should be 
" without partiality and without hypocrisy." 

And what I have done I purpose to have put 
on record, and brought under the inspection of 
friends and foes. The work, of course, has its 
errors, and I wish them to be pointed out, and 
prevented from doing injury ; but, in the con- 
viction that it contains substantial truth, and 
truth important to be told, I desire that the 
work may remain to be read after I am gone to 
my last account. In a little while, the tongue 
that now speaks will pass to the silence of the 



MODES OP DEFENCE. 341 

grave ; the heartburnings which its utterances 
have kindled will be quenched ; but the princi- 
ples involved will be as enduring as eternity. 
So it is a small thing to be judged of you, or 
of man's judgment. He that judgeth me is the 
Lord. Because we must all stand before the 
judgment seat of Christ — because I must meet 
my neighbors there, to be judged with them, and 
undergo a scrutiny of my faithfulness to them, I 
prefer, if need be, to become, for the present, 
their enemy, by telling them the truth, rather 
than to stand there guilty of their blood. This 
part of my work is now done ; and I commend 
it to God, with whom are the issues of every 
work, and pray that whatever has been said 
amiss may be forgiven and prevented from do- 
ing injury ; and that what of it is true may 
exert the force of truth on the public heart and 
conscience, and bring forth fruit unto eternal 

life. 

29^- 



CHAPTER XI. 

Mr. Thacher's Ministry. — Mr. Kurd's Ministry. 

Thomas Gushing Thacher had the advantage 
of a true nobility in his ancestry. They, with 
their kindred, embraced some of the most precious 
names in New England's history. His father 
graduated at Cambridge at the age of seventeen ; 
was ordained the pastor of the church in Maiden 
at the age of eighteen. He was a delightful yet 
pungent preacher. No young man preached 
to such crowded assemblies as he. Whitefield 
called him the young Elijah. He was a thor- 
ough Calvinist, and earnest for the Puritan 
faith. After a ministry of fifteen years in Mai- 
den, he became pastor of the Brattle Street 
Church, in Boston, where he labored seventeen 
years, and died in 1802, six years after the ordi- 
nation of his son at Lynn, whose ordination ser- 
mon he preached and published. Among the 
numerous discourses which he published, there 
were three on the eternity of future punishment, 
prepared probably with a design to counterwork 

(342) 



MR. THA CHERTS MINISTRY. 343 

the leaveu of Dr. Chauucy's doctrine, then 
spreading in Boston. In prayer he was uncom- 
monly gifted, uttering in pathetic language the 
devout feelings of his own heart, and exciting 
deep emotions in his hearers. He was, in short, 
one of the greater lights of the Boston pulpit. 

That a son of so excellent and celebrated a 
minister should be willing to become the pastor 
of such a forlorn hope of a church must have 
been thought quite remarkable. It would be a 
pleasing duty, if the facts would warrant it, to 
show that the son equalled his father's excellenco 
of gifts and graces. So, if we follow the tradi- 
tions and lights which we have, and show that 
he fell far short of that, it will be not because 
we take any pleasure in relating such facts, but 
because the truth of history requires it, and be- 
cause we have no other means of showing what 
was the low condition of the church, and by 
what means it was depressed. Mr. Thacher did 
not excel in native force, nor in discipline of 
mind ; but the people heard some excellent ser- 
mons from him — even some of the same that 
had been preached by his father before him. 
He did not excel in evangelical doctrine. He 
once remarked, in answer to the question 



344 MR. teacher's ministry. 

whether he believed in the necessity of a change 
of heart, that if there were such a thing, lie 
knew nothing of it. He did not excel in con- 
sistency in maintaining his sentiments ; for after 
his dismission, he was asked by a Calvinist what 
his sentiments were, and he said that he was a 
Calvinist, and always had been. He did not 
excel in gifts in prayer, nor in a reverential 
regard for the work of prayer ; for he once 
remarked to an intimate friend that lie " had no 
knack in praying." He was not intemperate, 
though he lived in times when the free use of 
ardent spirits was common with ministers and 
people, without forming an exception to the 
common practice. His influence on young men 
had less of moral restraint than could be desired. 
What he lacked in earnestness and zeal for tlie 
upbuilding of the church, he supplied in zeal for 
increasing the lodge of Freemasons. In short, 
his habits, tastes, tendencies, and sense of the 
proprieties of life were not all that might have 
been expected of one having his parentage and 
education in the most religious and refined circles. 
His ministry continued eighteen years ; and, 
considering what the church was wheji he began, 
and what its experience was from that time on- 



MR. thacher's ministry. 345 

ward, it is a wonder that it could have lived 
half that time. The case to which I have 
referred, of persons converted abroad, and con- 
necting themselves with this church, may indi- 
cate the way of explaining a part of the wonder. 
Where the Bible is read, and where religious 
books abound, and where families have religious 
connections abroad, and arc in a way to hear 
evangelical preaching occasionally, the church 
in some instances may sustain a remnant of life, 
even in spite of its own ministry. Here there 
was some traditional truth, transmitted from 
earlier times, and some reverence for the mem- 
ory of the Puritan fathers, which caused their 
books, lingering here and there in the families, 
to be read to effect ; so that scattered seeds of 
truth would germinate, now and then, under the 
breath of the Spirit of God, without the aid of 
a skilful cultivator. 

Mr. Thacher's records show a remarkable 
result. The most that he admitted to the church 
came in in the early periods of his ministry, 
before the true character of his ministry had 
time to make its full impression. Possibly at 
that time, having come recently from under the 
good influences of an education in the bosom of 



346 MR. teacher's ministry. 

piety and prayer, his ministry tlien exhibited 
more of the force of truth than in its later 
years. In his first year, Mr. Thacher admitted 
to the church sixteen persons, either by letter or 
profession. During the next six years he ad- 
mitted twenty-two ; and in all the last eleven 
years he admitted but one. Here is a remarka- 
ble fact — that for the whole term of eleven years, 
only one person came into the church, either by 
letter or profession. Things had probably come 
to such a condition, that a proper regard for 
one's reputation would prevent his connecting 
himself with the church. 

The natural result was, a constant drain from 
the congregation, by secessions to the Method- 
ists, on the part of those who had any serious 
impressions, and those on whom the maintenance 
of religious life in the society depended. And 
this was not all. The Baptist church here origi- 
nated in dissatisfaction with Mr. Thacher's min- 
istry, existing previous to any predilection for 
Baptist principles. The history, as I have re- 
ceived it, is this : Mr. Bacheller, the father of a 
present officer in that church, being dissatisfied 
with the state of things in Mr. Thacher's soci- 
ety, especially with the want of vital religion in 



347 



it, seceded to the Methodists, which then seemed 
to be the only alternative ; but after two years, 
more or less, his trial of the Methodists resulted 
in his utter dissatisfaction with their views. He 
then joined the Baptist church in Salem. He 
was in a habit of walking to Salem every Sab- 
bath, to attend church. By this means he came 
gradually to a thorough adoption of Baptist 
principles. Then he commenced inviting his 
own ministers to preach in Lynn, in private 
houses. His son very early sympathized with 
his views, and used to attend meeting at Salem 
with him ; and when he came upon the stage, he 
and his wife, who was a very efficient helper in 
this work, were the most prominent builders in 
the Baptist society. And this was an event of 
no inconsiderable importance, among the first 
checks to the universal sway of Arminianism 
here. The Baptists faithfully preached the main 
doctrines of the cross ; and though the organ- 
izing of their church did not take place till after 
the end of Mr. Thacher's ministry, the causes 
of it were at work before ; and its commencing 
to exert an influence about the same time when 
evangelical doctrines were restored to this 
church aided in checking somewhat the tide 



348 



that set so strongly against the doctrines of the 
cross. And what good has come of the organ- 
izing of the Baptist church, came of Providence 
overruling the evils then existing in the old 
church. It appears that Mr. Bacheller was not 
a Baptist when he seceded to the Methodists, 
as is proved in the fact that he went to the 
Methodists. And the probability is, that had 
there been a faithful ministry in the old church, 
he never would have left it, and never would 
have led the way to the forming of another 
church. This is only one of many instances of 
the Baptist denomination profiting by defections 
from the Puritan faith in our own. At the com- 
mencement of the present century, only one 
Congregational church in Boston remained true 
to Puritan principles. All the rest had become 
Unitarian. But connected with them there were 
individuals whose hearts revolted from such 
heresies, and desired the sincere milk of the 
word. Many of these sought what it was diffi- 
cult to find any where else in the two Baptist 
churches in Boston, these having excellent pas- 
tors — Messrs. Baldwin and Stillman. They 
went thither, not because they were Baptists, 
but because they loved the doctrines of the 



349 



cross. And their going thither was the occa- 
sion of their becomiug Baptists ; and that state 
of things was a harvest to the Baptist denomina- 
tion in Boston. 

In Lynn, Mr. Thacher's ministry had the mis- 
fortune of repelling the more sober-minded peo- 
ple in every direction. A more complete moral 
desert was rarely seen in a Christian land than 
that which lay around this church. The time 
just before the close of Mr. Thacher's ministry 
was probably the darkest day that this church 
ever saw. The professedly Unitarian ministry 
that followed his was an evident improvement. 
As to doctrines taught, it was no worse. It had 
no power to lift up and revive the church. But 
it did not in so many ways depress it, nor in so 
many ways counteract the influences coming in 
from other sources for good. 

There were some pious individuals in the 
church ; and the wonder is, that they so patient- 
ly endured so undesirable a ministry so long. 
How the facts were in this case we know very 
little ; but observations taken in church difficul- 
ties, as presented in many ecclesiastical councils, 
have shown that some of the best men often ad- 
here to the worst ministers, in cases of church 
30 



350 



divisions about a minister. And this comes 
about as a misdirection of their own excellent 
tendencies. So we have this seeming contradic- 
tion — the best adhering to the worst, as the 
result of their own goodness. Some of the 
purest and most earnest minds, out of their love 
and veneration for the ministry itself, form an 
attachment to the person of a particular minis- 
ter, which is so strong and confiding as to pre- 
vent their seeing his deficiencies, and to enlist 
them in his defence when he ought not to be 
defended. On this principle there is need of 
caution in applying the rule of " Like people, like 
priest." While bad men, from sympathy with 
wickedness, espouse the cause of an unworthy 
minister, good men, from love to the ministry, 
are sometimes blinded to the faults of the min- 
ister. And it is on this principle that we not 
unfrequently find some of the best people in a 
parish sustaining a minister that ought not to be 
sustained. Their love is of a kind that many 
waters will not quench, nor floods drown. 

There is another way in wdiich an unfruitful 
ministry sometimes holds its ground where it 
should not. It is the opposite of that which 
tends to parish quarrels. It is a chronic disease 



MR. thacher's ministry. 351 

of the public mind, by reason of wliicb the peo- 
ple have come to such a contempt for the min- 
istry that they care too little about the demerits 
of their minister to take the trouble to dismiss 
him. There arc few scenes in the religious 
world more revolting and more illustrative of 
the depths of human depravity than are often 
exhibited in a people's contests about their min- 
ister. But such contests, however unchristian 
in the spirit in which they are conducted, do not 
reveal such hopeless wickedness as does the 
quietness of a people who sustain a minister 
without caring what his character may be. 
Where there is a mere contempt for the ministry, 
yet a desire, for secular reasons, to sustain it, 
there is no great carefulness as to what its char- 
acter may be ; and when a people have so far 
gone in that contempt as not to take the trouble 
to remove a minister, after he has become a nui- 
sance, their moral sense is in a deep slumber. 

Without affirming how far these general re- 
marks have application to the period of the his- 
tory that is now before us, it is clear that the 
apathy of the people as to the unfruitfulness of 
the ministry was culpable. And it should here 
be stated that the first suggestion for the dismis- 



352 MR. thacher's ministry. 

sion of Mr. Thaclier came from abroad. The 
person who first moved the people in the matter 
was Mr. Newhall, the missionary, and the hus- 
band of the celebrated Harriet Newhall. He 
was temporarily residing with his relatives in 
Lynn. He became deeply affected with the de- 
ficiencies of the ministry, and labored to open 
the eyes of the people to their duty in the case. 
A parish meeting was called for, January 18, 
1813, when a vote was passed — "That in the 
existing circumstances, the best interests of both 
pastor and people require that a separation 
should take place." It was voted to give him 
eight hundred dollars, and the use of the par- 
sonage for one year. With these terms he com- 
plied, proposing that the society should assume 
his debts, — which they did, — and which, as I 
am informed, amounted to nineteen hundred dol- 
lars. This debt became a burden on the society, 
which, in its extreme feebleness, came near to 
crushing it, and which was not removed till, in 
the pastorate of Mr. Eockwood, help was re- 
ceived from abroad. 

Mr. Thacher, in his letter to the parish com- 
municating his resignation, tells them that he 
has been a faithful minister, and has always 



MR. hurd's ministry. 353 

sought tlieir good, and laments that he has had 
so little fruit of his labor, but that his failure 
was partly owing to his insufficient support. 
He dwelt pathetically on the hardness of his 
case, in being set aside after he had passed the 
meridian of life. And indeed it was peculiarly 
hard — and the more so in that the unfruitful- 
ness of his ministry here had made it impossible 
for him to find employment in other places. 
But for the church it was still more hard. It 
was well nigh a case of death to them. The 
personal evils to him, great as they were, were 
not to be thought of, compared with the evils af- 
fecting the immortal interests of hundreds. 

In April following the dismission of Mr. 
Thacher, a call was given to Mr. Isaac Hurd, of 
Charlestown. This took place at the time of 
the last war with Great Britain, when the pub- 
lic mind was deeply excited in politics, in 
which excitement some of the leading ministers 
in this vicinity took a prominent part. Little 
was then thought of the doctrines which preach- 
ers held ; and the political excitement made it 
a matter of still less interest. Mr. Hurd was a 
Unitarian in theory, though probably little was 
known of it. The council who installed him 
30* 



354 MR. hurd's ministry. 

was composed of both Unitarian and Orthodox 
ministers. For there had been no separation 
of the two interests then. His ordination ser- 
mon was preached by Dr. Osgood, of Medford, 
an. Orthodox minister, but furiously devoted to 
politics. He took for his text this — "When 
Paul preached of righteousness, temperance, and 
judgment to come, Felix trembled ; " and he set 
forth the minister's duty to preach so as to 
make wicked rulers tremble. He spoke elo- 
quently of the evils and distresses which our 
rulers had brought upon the country by an un- 
just war, and then complained that some of the 
ministers were dumb dogs, that will not bark. 
That feature of the times indicated by such a 
sermon, on such an occasion, may show why so 
little was then thought of the question, whether 
a minister's doctrines were true or false. As it 
was, Mr. Hurd seems to have been settled by a 
church that supposed themselves to be in the 
Puritan faith, without any divisions or questions 
being raised. It does not appear that Mr. 
Hurd made any concealment of his views. 
There was no examination of him by the coun- 
cil, according to the custom of these days. He 
read a profession of his faith to the council, and 



MR. hurd's ministry. 355 

they voted unanimously that it was satisfactory. 
And yet on that council were Drs. Osgood and 
Morse, and Mr. Wadsworth, of Danvers. Prob- 
ably the terms of his profession were not very 
explicit, as none at that time took the ground 
of refusing to ordain a minister for want of 
Orthodoxy. 

Though, as it respects the doctrines held by 
the minister, there had been little improvement 
by the change, in other respects there was a 
gain. Mr. Hurd was a gentleman, a scholar, 
and a man of sense, and serious and conscien- 
tious in the work which he had undertaken. 
And in these respects there was a vast gain. 
Yet his preaching was not that of Christ and 
him crucified, and so was not the power of God 
unto salvation, and so failed of imparting life 
to the church. A few members were admitted 
to the church during his ministry. But some of 
them had their conversion by means coming 
from abroad, and others of them afterwards se- 
ceded to the Unitarian society, when that was 
established. In all there were sixteen added by 
profession during his ministry. Of these five 
are now living members of the church. 

The great thing wanted was an element of 



356 MR. hurd's ministry. 

life. The minister, not having received the doc- 
trines of the cross, knew not for himself the way 
of life, nor how to guide others into it. Yet 
life, and interest felt in religion by the church 
and congregation, was the one thing which they 
lacked. The congregation were not so reduced 
that they could not well sustain the ministry, if 
they felt its power, and felt it to be worth sus- 
taining. But moral lectures, theoretical essays, 
and preaching against the doctrines of grace, 
such as then constituted the main labor of min- 
isters of that class, can awake no spiritual life 
in a people — as all experience from that time 
to this has demonstrated. There may be the 
wealth and willingness, for secular reasons, to 
sustain a ministry, — there may be in the minis- 
try sustained all gentlemanly and scholarly at- 
tainments, — and yet, if the grand elements of 
the gospel as a way of salvation for sinners are 
kept out of the pulpit, that ministry, as to the 
life-sustaining purpose of the ministry, is " power- 
less as the moonlight cold on the cold snow." 

And the result here was, that in three years 
the interest and ability of the congregation to 
sustain a minister failed. And though no one 
was displeased with the minister, it was neces- 



MR. hurd's ministry. 357 

sary for him to seek a dissolution of liis pastoral 
connection. In May, 1816, the pastor called a 
meeting of the church, and stated that the parish 
had not fulfilled its obligations to him, in conse- 
quence of embarrassments in their pecuniary 
condition, and there was no prospect that they 
would be able to do it for the future. What of 
the salary had been paid had come from bor- 
rowed money, and no payment had been made 
for the last two years ; that is, he had labored 
with them three years, while the members of the 
congregation had paid him nothing. Of course 
his remaining with them would only increase 
their embarrassments. He was willing to re- 
main longer, if any good could be accomplished 
by it. But he was clear that none could be, and 
was impelled to ask a dismission, which he ac- 
cordingly did. In accepting his resignation, 
the parish expressed their deep regrets, and 
their full satisfaction with the manner in which 
he had discharged his ministry. The council 
who sanctioned. his dismission spoke in their re- 
sult as if the question of life or death to the 
church had come to an issue. They exhorted 
them to make an effort to live, as follows : 
" Shall an ancient church be extinguished, the 



358 



place of whose solemnities has been venerable 
for a century? Shall a church numbered among 
the first monuments of our forefathers' zeal and 
piety go to decay, and its lively stones be built 
on foundations unknown to them, or disapproved 
by them ? We hope better things of you, breth- 
ren, and things which accompany salvation, as a 
church, though we thus speak." 

While Mr. Hurd's mind was occupied with 
the subject of his dismission, it was coming to a 
decision of a still more important question. He 
had read the controversy between Worcester 
and Channing, and taken new impressions as to 
the divinity of Christ. And though the public 
knew nothing of his change of sentiments till 
after he left Lynn, he informed one of his friends 
before he left, that he had undergone such a 
change. Perhaps the fruitlessness of his minis- 
try, as in the case of Dr. Chalmers, had been 
one means of his seeing his errors. Not long 
after he left Lynn, he preached to a Unitarian 
church in Exeter, New Hampshire. They gave 
him a call, not knowing the change in his views. 
For that reason he felt himself in honor bound 
to decline the call, and inform the society of the 
reason. They then renewed the call, and he 



359 



settled over them, and reclaimed them from 
their errors ; and he has since fulfilled a long 
and highly useful ministry among them. 

And here I feel a sensible relief in having 
finished the mournful recitals of a series of such 
ministries of errors. At this point our history 
emerges from shades to receive some of the first 
rays of the dawn of a better day. Only three 
years less than a century was this church under 
a cloud, and, properly speaking, without an 
evangelical ministry. And what a wonder is it 
that, for that length of time, it sustained a spark 
of evangelical life I Yet the power that was 
symbolized in the bush burning but not con- 
sumed — the hand that sustained the chosen 
tribes in the iron furnace of Egypt — that led 
them through the Red Sea — that upbore them 
through a forty years' experience of a life in the 
wilderness, — that hand sustained a remnant of 
life here. And all the wonder-working of Provi- 
dence, by which this was done, is a token of an 
important mission which this church has yet to 
fulfil. A few years later than the time of which 
we now speak, it was seriously questioned by 
those who wished to sustain the cause of truth 
here, whether it would not be better to let the 



360 



old churcli expire, and bury with it all its em- 
barrassments, and all the odium that attached to 
it, and all the contempts that had been heaped 
upon it. If that had been done ; and if then a 
new organization had been attempted, — for 
which there would then have been no encourage- 
ment, — there would have been, even in case of 
the success of a new organization, a throwing 
away of all the advantages for which Provi- 
dence had, in the labor of a century, kept the 
breath of life in the church ; and in that, we 
think, there would have been the frustration of 
a great purpose. If, in the view of God, the 
life of this church was worth preserving, it must, 
after it had been preserved, have had in it a 
value that would more than overbalance all the 
disadvantage which its many years of sad expe- 
rience had accumulated upon it. And if it had 
such a value at the time when its resurrection 
commenced, it has, under Providence, an impor- 
tant mission to fulfil. God has designs to ac- 
complish through the future experience and 
agency of this church, which are fit to be the 
end of such an expensive train of means. He 
is to glorify himself enough in the future history 
of this church to exhibit him in triumph over 



MR. hurd's ministry. 361 

all the devices of the enemy, through which his 
name and truth have suffered contempt. He is 
yet here to show results that will vindicate his 
glory, and put a surpassing lustre on his truth. 
Such is the inference which I draw from what 
God has done to this church, as to what he in- 
tends to do with it, that I value a connection 
with it the more for the wonders of his hand in 
its preservation. I infer that it has an impor- 
tant mission to perform. And with faith can I 
give breath to its prayer — " Make us glad ac- 
cording to the days wherein we have seen evil, 
and the years wherein thou hast afflicted us. 
Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and 
thy glory unto their children. Let the beauty 
of the Lord our God be upon us, and the work 
of our hands, establish thou it." 
31 



CHAPTER XII. 

Mr. Kockwood's Ministry. 

The church that had for a century shown 
great tenacity of life under the seeming death 
strokes repeated so long, now, under the ap- 
pointment of Providence, comes into the way 
to receive a ministry of life. At this time the 
Unitarian controversy had awaked. The people 
were discovering the difference between the 
views which had now extensively obtained and 
the original Puritan doctrines. Concealments 
had been thrown off. The controversy between 
Worcester and Channing had opened the grand 
debate. Differences that had been very much 
confined to ministers now came forth upon tlie 
people. The Congregational denomination in 
Mas.-achusetts was soon ranged in two conflict- 
ing parties. The society in Lynn, little as it 
had of Puritan force, or indeed of any force, 
showed the germs of two interests that were 
totally irreconcilable, and these about equally 
divided. 

(362) 



MR. rockwood's ministry. 363 

In employing candidates to fill its vacant pul- 
pit, a sort of compromise was observed between 
Cambridge and Andover, as a source of supply. 
For near two years an alternation between the 
two was sustained. In the mean time, those in 
the society who had been Unitarians without 
knowing it began to make the discovery, when 
they had such opportunities to contrast the two 
systems. The Andover students brought cer- 
tain strange things to their ears — things which 
had long ceased to awake the echoes of the " Old 
Tunnel." To show how this class of people were 
affected, I will give two or three extracts from 
a journal kept by one who afterwards became 
a member of the Unitarian society. '' Dec. 
28, 1817. Attended the old meeting ; heard 
an uncharitable Ilopkinsian Calvinistic ser- 
mon. Feb. 22, 1818. Attended public worship 
at the old meeting — sermon by Mr. Morse, 
son of Dr. Morse, of Charlestown : it was the 
true essence of Calvinism — very uncharitable — 
not profitable to any — cruel as the grave. 
In the afternoon staid at home." Yet, as 
there were life and force in Orthodox preaching, 
though it irritated some, it secured better attend- 
ance and fuller congregations than the opposites. 



364 MR. 

Now tlie life of the church trembled in the bal- 
ances. A small weight would have struck the 
balance forever against her. If, in the then ex- 
isting circumstances, she had settled a Unita- 
rian minister, she was gone past recovery. The 
Unitarians believed they had a majority in the 
parish, and the Orthodox faintly hoped that 
they should have. This was in their favor, that 
their preaching drew the fullest houses. Among 
the candidates which the Orthodox employed 
was Mr. Otis Rockwood. He did not come here 
directly from Andover, but had previously been 
preaching some time in Charlestown for Dr. 
Morse ; and it was not known to the people gen- 
erally that he was an Andover student ; and so 
he was heard with less prejudice ; and many 
of the Unitarian portion of the people had ex- 
pressed opinions so decidedly in his favor, be- 
fore they knew of his connection with Andover, 
that they could not retract. The call to Mr. 
Rockwood from the church was unanimous. In 
the parish there was, as it was to have been ex- 
pected, some division. The call from the church 
was given March 1, 1818. The meeting of the 
parish, to act in concurrence, was called for 
March 30. Of this meeting the private journal 



MR. rockwood's ministry. 365 

from which we have quoted says, "The parish 
and church were very much divided, a part be- 
ing in favor of Mr. Rockwood, while a decided 
majority was opposed to him, on the Calvinistic 
doctrine. It was finally voted, by a majority 
of three, to request him to preach one or two 
Sabbaths, before they decided upon giving him 
a call." This vote stands on the record of the 
parish. The same journal, under date of April 
20, says of an adjourned meeting of the parish, 
" When the question concerning Mr. Rockwood 
was taken, there were about fifty present : twen- 
ty-six voted to give him a call, and eleven voted 
against it." So the call was made out ; and 
from that 20th of April, 1818, the recovery of 
that church dates its commencement ; though, 
like the return of life to a person apparently 
drowned, it was attended with not a few of ago- 
nies, convulsions, and dangers. 

Mr. Rockwood at this time was under a call 
to settle as a colleague with Dr. Morse, of 
Charlestown, where all things in his work and 
prospects would have been pleasant ; but he 
yielded to the earnest solicitations of friends, 
and to his own convictions of duty, to sacrifice 
his own interests in order to make the experi- 
31 * 



366 iiR. rockwood's ministry. 

ment of life for this church. Neighboring min- 
isters regarded it as but a doubtful experiment, 
but desired him to undertake it. He was or- 
dained on the 1st of July. The church at that 
time consisted of eight males and thirty-two fe- 
males — forty in all. The congregation varied 
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred. 

The council that ordained Mr. Rockwood was 
composed mostly of the neighboring ministers, 
without regard to the distinction of Unitarian 
and Orthodox ; but a majority were Orthodox. 
Here there was an examination of the candidate 
by the council, and some of the questions and 
answers were imbodied in the result of the 
council. At the ordination, the sermon was 
preached by Professor Stuart, of Andover. A 
part of the Unitarian ministers on the council 
refused to vote for the ordination. A part of 
the Unitarians among the people at first acqui- 
esced in his settlement, in the expectation that, 
because he was a young man, they should be 
able to mould him. One of the means by which 
they attempted to do this was to induce him to 
exchange with Unitarian ministers. He ex- 
changed once with Mr. Bartlett, of Marblehead, 
who bad not then avowed himself a Unitarian, 



MR. rockwood's ministry. 367 

though he had shown evident leanings that 
way. After Mr. Bartlett had avowed himself he 
invited Mr. Rockwood again to exchange ; but 
he refused. Mr. Bartlett then threatened him, 
and told him that there were people in Lynn 
that wished to hear him preach, and that they 
would make him trouble if he did not exchange. 
He replied that he must then bear the conse- 
quences. 

Soon after his ordination, Mr. Rockwood, 
feeling himself bound to instruct his people in 
the doctrines of the cross, of which they had 
heard so little, preached them frequently and 
plainly. This very soon awoke an opposition. 
Means were taken to put him down by terms of 
disparagement, arguing that he must be a small 
a-ffair or he would not have become the pastor 
of so small a church. All possible measures 
were taken to thwart and impede him in his 
work. In those days it was a matter of course, 
almost, that ministers should be on the school 
committee ; but in some of the first years, efforts 
were made, and successfully made, to exclude 
him from this committee. And here we will an- 
ticipate a little, for the sake of speaking of Mr. 
Rockwood's experience on this committee, in 



368 



which he did the town essential service. While 
the Unitarian minister, Mr. Green, was on the 
committee, the reading of the Bible was ruled 
out of the schools, not formally, but effectually, 
by representing that it was unsuitable to be read 
in the schools. When Mr. Kockwood was put 
on the committee, it was, after some opposition 
by a part of the committee, restored. At that 
time Dr. Coffin was a frequent, if not a constant, 
member of this committee ; and the schools of 
this town owe much to his zeal in the cause of 
education. He was then a member of the Uni- 
tarian society ; but he cordially cooperated with 
Mr. Rockwood in all measures for the moral 
as well as intellectual interests of the schools. 
When Mr. Rockwood was about to leave the 
town, he said that the town had better give him 
a handsome salary to supervise the schools than 
to allow him to leave. Dr. Coffin's intercourse 
with Mr. Rockwood in these duties had a most 
happy influence on his own mind. It was doubt- 
less among the means of preparing his mind for 
that change of views which issued in his dying 
full in the hopes of the gospel, and in full reli- 
ance on that almighty Savior whom the theories 
of his earlier days had set aside. 



MR. rockwood's ministry. 369 

In some years Mr. Rockwood devoted one 
quarter of his available time to the schools. 
That is much more than any pastor can properly 
spare. Though he accomplished great good, 
affecting the general interests of the town, it 
was the diversion of so much of needed labor in 
the ministry, and so far at his own expense and 
that of the church. His health and ability to 
perform the needed pastoral labor were dimin- 
ished by the means ; and so it became one of the 
leading causes of his asking a dismission when 
he did it. 

When he commenced his labors here, there 
were but two families in the church that sus- 
tained family prayer. This shows, at a glance, 
how little he was sustained by the prayers of the 
church. There were doubtless praying hearts 
out of these families ; but as far as the invisible 
prayer demonstrated itself by the visible, these 
two witnesses, prophesying in sackcloth, showed 
the church to have a remnant of life, and but a 
remnant. These were the signs put forth to 
show it to be just on the line between life and 
death. 

Think of a young pastor opening his ministry 
in such a valley of death, as one sent to call 



370 MR. rockwood's ministry. 

upon dry bones to hear the word of the Lord. 
On whom was he to rely for sympathy in his 
hours of anxiety or depression — for aid in the 
work of supplication, and in sustaining the social 
meetings ? How discouraged must he have been 
when going forth to preach to those small assem- 
blies, containing so few hearts in unison with his 
own, and so many that repelled his doctrines ! 
Let it be remembered that he had not come into 
this trying position at unawares, nor by neces- 
sity, but by a deliberate self-sacrifice. He knew, 
and was told by neighboring ministers, that it 
was a doubtful experiment whether this church 
was to live or die. Ho made a voluntary offer- 
ing of his ministerial prospects upon this altar, 
upon what chance there was for securing its life. 
For this he had foregone the opportunity of be- 
coming the pastor of one of the most desirable 
churches in the state, after having fully counted 
the cost. 

Now, among all the self-seeking with which 
we are familiar, it is refreshing to find such an 
example, so clearly after the Christian model. 
We are compelled to grant that even in the min- 
istry many seek their own more than the things 
which are Jesus Christ's. And yet there are 



MR. rockwood's ministry. 371 

some instances in which it can be proved that 
Christ has still a true ministry on earth. And 
those who by self-sacrifice make demonstra- 
tion of that fact will not have lived in vain. 
They furnish the power and work out the mate- 
rial which is available to the whole ministry, 
when it goes forth upon the conscience of the 
world, and they thus produce results far from 
the narrow scene of their own labors. 

Up to this time a very effectual obstacle had 
impeded the growth of the church. The minis- 
try had been of such a kind that persons having 
serious impressions felt on that account a neces- 
sity of withdrawing to the Methodists for a 
sympathy and instruction which they could not 
find here. And thus the life blood of the church 
was so drawn away, that its pulse could hardly 
be discerned. This obstacle to increase was 
now removed, but a restoration to life was still 
a difficult process. What was ordained to life 
seemed to be unto death. The warm applica- 
tions to the man nearly frozen to death threat- 
ened to kill him by the reaction. The doctrines 
of the cross, the source of life, were brought to 
bear. These awoke hostility, and induced an- 
other crisis, which threatened destruction to the 



372 



society. Now, to appreciate the difficulties of 
the minister's work, take your stand just here, 
and see how little he had to work with — how 
reduced was his church in numbers and piety — 
how small his congregation, and how divided. 
How hostile were the great mass of people 
around him to him and his doctrines — how dis- 
posed to unite in loading his church with con- 
tempt — what arguments for that contempt its 
history for a hundred years had piled up. See 
him in that position, bearing that burden, and 
tell how much ought to have been expected of 
him — how much more than to drag along the 
mere existence of the church. See how dis- 
couraging were his first efforts. The preaching 
of Christ crucified awoke a determined resist- 
ance. 

This manifested itself for a few months in the 
common forms of complaint and irritation. Some 
members of the congregation went to Chelsea, 
and perhaps to other places out of town, to wor- 
ship for a while. Mr. Rockwood was ordained 
in July. In October following, measures were 
taken towards a secession of those who were 
not satisfied. They were all evidently Uni- 
tarians, but from reasons of policy they chose 



MR. rockwood's ministry. 373 

not to hoist Unitarian colors at first. Tliey 
proclaimed themselves Episcopalians. The first 
developments of the buds of the Episcopal stock 
took place in a sermon preached in the old meet- 
ing house, on Sunday evening, October 18, 1818, 
a few months after Mr. Rockwood's settlement, 
by Rev. Thomas Carlisle, of Salem. Some weeks 
afterwards the same minister preached on the 
Sabbath in the Academy. On the 3d of the 
next January, Bishop Griswold sent a Mr. Chase, 
a minister in deacon's orders, resident in Salem, 
to preach. On the 27th of that month, Mr. Car- 
lisle and Mr. Chase came hither, and organized 
an Episcopal society, consisting of Amos Rhodes, 
Samuel Brimblecom, J. F. Gardner, R. P. Hovey, 
William Chadwell, J. C. Jayne, James Lakeman, 
Ellis Newhall, and Joseph Lye. The usual con- 
gregation assembled for Episcopal services at 
the Academy was about thirty. For a part of 
the time they had preaching by Episcopal minis- 
ters, but for most of the time prayers and ser- 
mons were read by some of their own number. 
Colonel Brimblecom, Dr. Coffin, and Mr. Hovey, 
a young lawyer, contributed to sustain this ser- 
vice. But at length the society got weary of 
these proceedings. They found the same doc- 
32 



374 MR. rockwood's ministry. 

trines from which they had fled in the Liturgy, 
which they were required to read. At length 
they commenced omitting the parts of the pray- 
ers which contained the objectionable doctrines. 
This gave offence to the Episcopal clergy. And 
Mr. Carlisle, who stood to them in the nominal 
relation of rector, wrote to them a letter, advis- 
ing them, that if the whole of the church service 
could not be read, it were best to close the 
church for the present. The journal from which 
we quote says, that " Mr. Carlisle's advice was 
received with joy rather than with grief, and 
we fondly hope a society will soon be estab- 
lished in this town on the immutable principles 
of Christian charity and benevolence." This 
experiment had been continued a little more 
than three years. 

In less than a month after this, arrangements 
were made to commence Unitarian preaching in 
the Academy, preparatory to the formation of 
a Unitarian society. The first steps for a formal 
organization were taken April 4, 1822, by the 
choice of Colonel Brimblecom, Henry A. Breed, 
and William Chadwell, a committee. Three 
days after, a Unitarian society was formed, by 
the name of the " Second Congregational Soci- 



MR. rockwood's ministry. 375 

ety." The society was organized under an act 
of incorporation, July 18. The house of wor- 
ship, built at an expense of three thousand five 
hundred and fifteen dollars, exclusive of the 
foundation and pulpit, was dedicated April 30, 
1823. December 23 of the same year, the for- 
malities of organizing a church were passed. It 
was on this wise : George Bracket, Henry A. 
Breed, and Dr. Coffin acknowledged the church 
covenant, " which was their belief in the Holy 
Scriptures, in one God, in tli*e divine mission of 
Christ, his death and resurrection, and a final 
retribution beyond the grave, and in all that 
Christ required his followers to believe." Over 
this society Rev. Samuel D. Green was settled 
as the first pastor, November 3, 1824. 

This secession of course weakened the first 
parish. But this was not the most formidable 
difiSculty. The parish was burdened with a debt 
of sixteen hundred dollars. Then, their meet- 
ing house, being one hundred and forty-five years 
old, was undesirable in form, inconvenient, un- 
comfortable, and much out of repair. It had 
become a reproach and a byword, being called 
the Old Tunnel. In every view the prospects of 
the society were disheartening. There had been 



376 MR. rockwood's ministry. 

a few additions to the cliurcli of persons who 
gave promise of future activity ; but they were 
not favored with large pecuniary resources. At 
a society meeting it was suggested that it was 
not practicable to raise the necessary funds for 
the support of the pastor and other expenses, 
and it was proposed to sell the parsonage and 
other property, and pay all debts, and disband, 
and leave the members to unite with other soci- 
eties according to their individual preferences. 
Here was another crisis in which life and death 
trembled in the balance. 

A parish meeting to act upon this question took 
place at the house of Mr. Ephraim Sweetzer, in 
Federal Street. There were present among others 
Drs. Gardner and Hazletine, Messrs. Amariah 
Child, Amos Blanchard, Thomas Rhodes, Jesse 
Ehodes, John Alley, 3d, and Christopher Bubier. 
Mr. Alley moved that the property of the society 
be sold to pay the debts, preparatory to disband- 
ing. The motion seemed to be in accordance with 
the general conviction of the meeting, as a neces- 
sity not to be avoided. When the question was 
about to be taken on it, Mr. Bubier, one of the 
younger members present, pleaded for a delay of 
action upon it, and made an earnest appeal on 



MR. rockwood's ministry. 377 

the ground that it was to be the extinction of 
an ancient church, that ought for most sacred 
reasons to be preserved. After he had con- 
cluded, Dr. Hazletine took him aside, and la- 
bored to convince him that it was best to give 
up. He said he could hear the gospel cheaper 
and nearer home. And in answer to the ques- 
tion whether that which he would hear is the 
gospel, he said, " I have books at home that will 
convince you that there is not so much differ- 
ence, and that Unitarians can be Christians.'^ la 
justice to Dr. H., it should here be said that 
Unitarianism at that time had not displayed the 
features that it now has, and that nobody then 
saw the difference as it is now seen. His own 
views had a mixture of Arminianism ; and, then, 
having property, and being liable to bear large 
burdens in the society, he was under a strong 
temptation to such a view. All of the meeting, 
as far as was known, were in favor of the motion, 
except Mr. Bubier and Mr. Jesse Rhodes. But 
the meeting was willing to postpone action, and 
give any an opportunity to show a better way. 
So they adjourned without taking the question. 

In the time of the adjournment the facts were 
communicated to the pastor, and he took up the 
32* 



378 MR. ROCKWOOD'S MINISTRY. 

question to see wliat could be done to save the 
cliurcli from ruin. He said that it did not be- 
come him as the pastor of this ancient church, nor 
did it become them as descendants and succes- 
sors of the Puritans, to abandon the cause of 
evangelical truth in this place without further 
efforts and sacrifices to sustain it. He offered 
to put his shoulder with theirs under the burdens, 
and proposed to meet the society at their ad- 
journed meeting and confer with them. At that 
meeting he proposed to relinquish two hundred 
dollars of his salary for that year, provided the 
society would pay him four hundred, and he 
would make it up to himself by teaching, if neces- 
sary. This proposal was accepted, and it im- 
parted new encouragement to the desponding. 
The four hundred dollars were soon pledged. 
The pastor then applied to the "Society for 
promoting Christian Knowledge." They ap- 
propriated one hundred and fifty dollars a year 
for five years, on condition that the parish pay 
off the debt in that time. This relieved the pas- 
tor in part of what he had pledged. The other 
fifty dollars he relinquished for six years. A 
subscription was soon commenced to pay off the 
debt. By what was done here, and by friends 



MR. rockwood's ministry. 379 

and societies abroad, the amount was raised and 
the debt paid. 

Now, it was made clear that the society in- 
tended to live, that it had friends abroad and 
some recuperative energies at home. The bonds 
of union among its members became stronger, and 
many taunting reproaches from without were si- 
lenced. Taking advantage of the turning tide, 
the pastor suggested that now was the time for 
building a new meeting house. All felt the need 
of it, and it was not difficult to convince them 
that it was indispensable to any future prosperity, 
though it seemed hardly practicable to raise the 
requisite funds. The ministers of the association 
gave encouragement that the churches in the 
neighborhood would cooperate to the extent of 
a thousand dollars. With this encouragement 
the work was undertaken. The Old Tunnel 
frame was removed from its position on the 
Common to the corner of Commercial Street 
and the Common, and newly covered and roofed, 
and furnished with a new front and tower, and 
new interior and pews, so as to have the appear- 
ance of an entirely new building, neat and attrac- 
tive. The congregation was small when it first 
removed to the new house ; but it was not long 



380 MR. rockwood's ministry. 

before the pews were nearly all sold or rented. 
Then it was demonstrated that the society would 
live. Prophecies of its fall had been falsified, 
and a gratifying triumph obtained. Occasional 
additions were made to the church, and the so- 
ciety had increasing prosperity in its general 
interests. In the year 1831 there was a revival 
of great interest and power, and, considering 
the size of the congregation, the number of ad- 
ditions made by it to the church was very large ; 
and to quite the usual extent the fruits of it 
proved their genuineness by their permanency. 
The next year after this revival Mr. Rockwood 
asked and received a dismission. The number 
of members in the church then was one hundred 
and twenty-eight — thirty-two males and ninety- 
six females ; so that there had been a net gain 
of church members, in the thirteen years of his 
pastorate, of eighty-eight ; and fifty-seven of 
these were added in the single year of 1831, the 
year before his resignation. 

Now, it is natural to ask, Why, after such re- 
sults, should a separation of pastor and people 
be allowed to take place ? The very prosperity 
of the preceding year had contributed some- 
thing towards it. The great exertions which 



MR. rockwood's ministry. 381 

the pastor made in that revival had exhausted 
his energies and health, so that it was indispen- 
sable to him to relieve himself from his labors 
here entirely by a dismission, or temporarily by 
absence from the people for a while ; and the 
circumstances did not admit of the latter course. 
The society was still in debt, occasioned by 
building the meeting house ; and he was in debt, 
occasioned by what he had done to aid the soci- 
ety ; and when he asked a dismission, he put his 
request to the society in the form of an alterna- 
tive — the alternative of refunding to him what 
he had in former years relinquished of his sala- 
ry, and restoring his salary to its original sum, 
or of accepting his resignation. They, in the 
cii'cumstances, did not feel able to do the former, 
and so he was dismissed. 

Judging of that action on general principle, 
and with such a limited knowledge of details as 
a stranger to the transactions must have, the wis- 
dom of the conclusion attained seems question- 
able. Considering the obstacles in the way, Mr. 
Rockwood's ministry had been fruitful in a very 
high degree ; and the year immediately preceding 
had gathered in more fruits than all the rest. 
Now, if breathing time could have been given 



382 ME. rockwood's ministry. 

him, so that he could have returned to his work 
with recruited energies, the probabilities are, 
that the injQiuence which he had here acquired 
with men's consciences, by his self-denying labors 
and his godly life, would have enabled him to 
work here with more effect than any other could ; 
for there is a great loss of power when a good 
minister is removed from a field where his name 
and the remembrance of what he has done is do- 
ing more, by a silent operation, than the most 
eloquent preaching of one minister can do. One 
who has upon the ground acquired the character 
of a faithful and successful minister, has secured 
a vantage ground not for slight reasons to be 
relinquished. But, wisely or unwisely, the dis- 
mission took place June 6, 1832. 

To illustrate the discouragements of Mr. Rock- 
wood's position, one person remembers having 
spent a Sabbath here at that time, and attending 
at Mr. Eockwood's place of worship, and hear- 
ing Dr. Cornelius, one of the best preachers in 
the country, preach to a mere handful — some 
forty or fifty people — while Maffit was holding 
forth to immense crowds at the Methodist church. 
Such a mountebank and frothy declaimer, to say 
no worse, was then more to the taste of the 



383 



people than the burning eloquence of Cornelius. 
Two men were never more unlike. And the 
taste of the multitude, as shown in that instance 
plainly told on what the public mind had been 
fed, and how hopeless it was to call it back from 
the husks to the bread in our Father's house. 
That single fact shows at once that nothing 
could be done here till after years of patient 
toil, gaining little by little. 

My first impression as to the results of Mr. 
Rockwood's labors here was received from his 
church records. I then knew little of the his- 
tory of the case ; and even then I regarded it as 
a very successful ministry. But now that I can 
look somewhat into the depths of his position, 
and into the hole of the pit from which this 
church was digged, I am free to say that I re- 
gard his ministry as remarkably successful. In 
spite of all the obstacles, the proportion of ad- 
ditions to the church exceeded the average of 
what are called prosperous churches. But the 
true importance of the work which he did here 
consisted in breaking the force of the tide which 
was bearing all to destruction, and beginning to 
set it in an opposite direction. He found here 
a church having but two praying families, and 



384 MR. 

left it with many. He found few minds evincing 
an attachment to the doctrines of the cross, and 
left a church prepared to unite in a successor 
who gave fearless utterance to those doctrines. 
He found the church declining in life and 
strength, and left it in a state of thrift and 
rapid increase. And he has been honored of 
God to break the succession of an erroneous 
and life-depressing ministry, and head a new 
series of the preachers of the truth, to whose 
labors God will attach his blessing ; and who- 
ever comes in after generations to write the his- 
tory of this church, and trace events as time 
will then have developed them, will trace great 
results to causes which had their spring under 
his labors. 

The honor which the providence of God put 
upon his ministry was this, that it was the turn- 
ing point of life to an apparently expiring 
church. He sacrificed his own interests and 
perilled his prospects of a happy settlement in 
the ministry to make here what was thought to 
be the doubtful experiment whether this church 
could live. Such instances of self-sacrifice on 
the part of ministers are little thought of. With 
most it is taken as a first principle that ministers 



385 



have a selfish motive for every act. And when 
he declined a call to one of the best churches in 
the state, that he might unite his fortunes here 
with an apparently sinking cause, he had no 
credit for his self-denial : it was even turned to 
his disadvantage ; and many inferred that he 
must be a small affair if he would consent to la- 
bor here with such a forlorn hope of a church. 
So little do the world, judging others by them- 
selves, appreciate the moral sublime in self-de- 
nial. But it matters not. He lias not lost his 
reward. Events in after years will show — they 
have already begun to show — more good accom- 
plished, that is, more honor achieved, by that 
self-sacrificing ministry than is ordinarily se- 
cured by a ministry in our largest churches. It 
w^as the rescue from death of a church to whose 
preservation God had attached a great value. 
God has honored him by setting him at the head 
of a many-branching stream of life-giving influ- 
ence here, where children and children's children 
will see cause to call him blessed. 
33 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Kev. Mk. Peabody's Ministry. — Settlement of the 
PRESENT Pastor. — Building op the Meeting House. 
— History op the Debt and its Extinction. — The 
Temperance Conflict. 

The cliurcli was not long vacant. Mr. Rock- 
wood was dismissed in June, and August 13 the 
cliurch voted a call to Mr. David Peabody, 
of Topsfleld. This call was accepted, and the 
preliminaries arranged, so that the ordination 
took place November 15, 1832. In point of 
ministerial gifts and character, Mr. Peabody 
was all that could be desired. His pulpit 
talents were of a high order. Few young 
men on entering the ministry exceeded him. 
But what was more, he was earnestly devoted 
to his work, and, to the extent of his physical 
ability, laborious and faithful ; and under his 
labors the society had the promise of an in- 
crease as rapid as possible, considering the 
many impediments in its way ; and for a short 
time it had such an increase. But the prospects 



387 



were soon overcast. Mr. Peabody's health was 
feeble, tending to pulmonary consumption. It 
was feeble when he accepted the call, and in his 
acceptance he asked to be favored in that re- 
spect. Under the labor of the first years of his 
ministry, always specially trying to the health 
of a young minister, and subject to the influ- 
ence of the sea breezes, so injurious to pulmo- 
nary complaints, he faltered. After a ministry 
of about two years and a half, March 29, 1835, 
he asked for a dismission, on two grounds — the 
failure of his health, under the influence of the 
climate, making it probable that if he remained 
he should be wholly prostrate ; and the great 
amount of labor necessary to be performed, by 
reason of the increase of numbers, and the cir- 
cumstances of the town calling for much labor. 
It was with reluctance that the church yielded 
to this request. They voted that they were 
fully satisfied with the labors, doctrines, gifts, 
and graces of their pastor, and were willing to 
make any sacrifices to secure his continuance 
with them ; but after a full and anxious hearing 
of the case the council judged that there was a 
necessity for the dismission ; and the event jus- 
tified their conclusion. Mr. Peabody afterwards 



388 THE PRESENT MINISTRY. 

assumed a pastoral charge, which he held for a 
short time, in Worcester ; and then for a short 
time held the ofQce of a professor in Dartmouth 
College, where he died of the consumption that 
was upon him while in Lynn. 

After Mr. Peabody's dismission, the church 
was without a pastor nearly a year. The pres- 
ent pastor preached his first sermon here the 
first Sabbath in March, 1836, and was installed 
May 4. And here, perhaps, I should end my 
history, since, if I go further, I shall be com- 
pelled to speak in the first person more than is 
pleasant to do. Yet, since that time, important 
events in your history have occurred, of which 
I must have a better knowledge than my suc- 
cessors can have ; so I think it best to continue 
the narrative. The congregation at the time 
of my installation were worshipping in the house 
on the corner of Commercial Street, which was 
too small to accommodate all that wanted seats 
in it, and the seats were so few that the pew 
rents, unless put so high as to deter worshippers 
from occupying them, would not sustain the ex- 
penses ; and an extra effort by way of a sub- 
scription was needed. It was understood that 
more than twenty families were desirous of 



THE PRESENT MINISTRY. 389 

taking pews in the house, when no pews were 
to be had. The population of the town was in- 
creasing at a rate unparalleled ; and it was felt 
that we ought to take the advantage open to us 
for increase, as we could not take it while con- 
fined to so small a house. Another thing which 
encouraged the undertaking of building anew, at 
that time, was the very thing that brought dis- 
aster upon it. It was at a time when the public 
mind every where was delirious with a commer- 
cial expansion. Speculation in every thing was 
rife. On paper fortunes were made in a day. 
And in such times the building of a house so 
large was regarded as a small affair, though all 
materials and expenses of building were at the 
highest price. Under these circumstances, a 
resolution was taken to build a house covering 
a larger area than any other in Essex county. 
It was taken at a parish meeting, where seventy 
voters were present, that is, well nigh all the 
members of the parish. An opposing vote w^as 
not given. One, and one only, advised against 
it ; and if circumstances could have continued as 
they were, it would have been a successful un- 
dertaking ; but when the work of building was 
about half way to its completion, and when it 
33* 



390 THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 

was too late to retreat from it, the commercial 
crisis of 1837 came tipon it, like a sudden tem- 
pest upon a ship with every sail spread, and it 
drove us well nigh to a wreck. Many of the 
members of the parish, on Avhom reliance was 
made to carry the burden, failed. The popula- 
tion of the town underwent a diminution of 
some thousands, by reason of its business being 
paralyzed. The congregation was diminished 
by removals. The aggregate property of the 
whole parish, leaving out that of a very few 
individuals, was not enough to pay the debt. 
So when the house was finished, and came to 
the sale of pews, comparatively few had the 
means for buying. The expense of the house 
had been, as is usual in such cases, vastly above 
the calculation. The house and land cost seven- 
teen thousand dollars ; and after the sale of the 
pews the debt upon the house stood at near 
twelve thousand dollars. The annual interest 
on this, being more than seven hundred dollars, 
was more than the society felt able to pay, if it 
had no other expenses. 

In these circumstances, what was to be done ? 
To pay the debt then was utterly impossible. A 
majority of the families severely felt the pressure 



THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 391 

of the times ; and none had money to invest in 
meeting house property. These were dark days, 
when some of our wisest counsellors advised to 
abandon all in despair, and let it go for a fail- 
ure. The time when the difficulties of the case 
came to be fully known and realized was in 
1840. "We had been two years under the bur- 
den, without realizing its full extent. Then, if 
those who advised to a failure had pushed their 
advice with earnestness, they would have car- 
ried it. To my view, a failure to pay that debt 
seemed equivalent to an extinction of the church. 
I knew that I could not labor here, as its pastor, 
if, added to all the other impediments, it was 
under the disgrace of a failure. When that 
question was mooted, I felt compelled to plead 
against a failure. I did it in a sermon of which 
the following were the closing words : — 

" These are some of the grounds on Avhich I 
stand, when I say that the thought of scattering 
to the four winds this heritage of the Lord must 
not, cannot, will not prevail. Shades of the 
sainted fathers, Puritans of hallowed memory, 
forbid it! Let the deliverances wrought for 
this church in her former trials forbid it ! Let 
your love of truth, and determination to live 



392 THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 

and die in its defence, forbid it! The report 
which has gone abroad that we are on the point 
of resolving to die, because we have not strength 
or courage to breathe any longer, I repel as a 
foul calumny. I am no prophet, or prophet's 
son ; but my word is given for what it is worth, 
that we shall not die, but live, a rebuke to those 
enemies of God and truth who have prematurely 
put their mouth to the ' Trumpet,' to utter tri- 
umphs over our overthrow. God is our refuge 
and strength, a very present help in time of 
trouble ; therefore we will not fear. The Lord 
of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our 
refuge. The work which he has begun and con- 
ducted with so much care thus far will not be 
abandoned. This sanctuary, which has cost so 
many painful anxieties, we trust will stand, a 
monument of your zeal and self-denial, and echo 
to the songs of your children and your children's 
children, till it shall lift its tower amid the 
splendors of millennial glory." 

This quotation is given to show, not the facts, 
but the feelings of the times. It was felt that 
the public mind, charged as it here was with 
hostility to our principles, would take no excuse 
for the failure of an Orthodox society. Socie- 



THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 393 

ties of other principles might fail, and occasion 
loss to creditors, but not we. That had this 
society been the occasion — though innocent of 
occasion — of a loss of so many thousands to 
its creditors, its failure would have intombed 
the last hope of preserving this ancient church. 
Yet the payment of the debt then was impossi- 
ble. The only ray of hope was by making a 
strenuous effort to pay the annual interest on 
the debt, in addition to the current expenses, 
till Providence might open some way — we 
knew not what way — to get relief. This effort 
was made ; and, considering the small means 
then existing, it was nobly sustained. The house 
was mortgaged to the full extent to which 
mortgages would be taken ; and yet a large 
debt stood without security, except that a single 
individual of the parish (Andrews Breed, Esq.) 
consented virtually to sustain the credit of it 
through those years when credit was no easy 
attainment, and when our credit especially was 
questionable. But for him we must have failed. 
He stood long in tlie gap, alone, till Providence 
brought in another friend, (Hon. Isaiah Breed,) 
equally able and generous, to divide with him 
and us the burdens. In this aid, furnished at 



394 THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 

the time when it was indispensable to life, we 
are specially bound to notice the hand of God ; 
and it is fitting that we should leave on record 
our acknowledgments to men. It is not usual 
for men of larger means to seek religious con- 
nections where large debts are to be lifted. But 
the burden of this debt was not carried by- 
wealthy men alone, nor chiefly. After the two 
individuals alluded to had done most generously, 
it required the straining of every nerve of those 
who had little or nothing, to carry the load. In 
the early stage of the difficulty, besides their 
pew rents, a large number of the congregation 
contributed the avails of one day's labor in a 
month to pay the interest of the debt. After 
that, Sabbath contributions were adopted. By 
the utmost efforts of this kind the debt was kept 
from accumulating. Patience had a severe test. 
We lived in hope that the next year would bring 
better times. The next year came, and brought 
no relief. The burden which many felt it im- 
possible to bear one year pressed with little 
mitigation for five years. In 1842 the debt had 
been by some special efforts brought down to 
ten thousand five hundred dollars. At that 
time, more than three thousand had been paid 



THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 395 

in interest money. This was done -^vith the great- 
est difficulty, when business was depressed, and la- 
bor found little remuneration. In the next year 
and a half, one thousand more of interest was 
paid, and three thousand to diminish the debt, 
leaving the debt at seven thousand five hundred. 
Then we went on paying the interest till 1847, 
when an effort was made to extinguish the whole 
at once. 

And this, in the circumstances, is one of the 
most incredible events in the history, and ought 
to be told ; and if I knew any way in which I 
could tell it, and lay myself wholly out of view, 
I would choose that way. But it is due to the 
grace of God that I should not cover it up for 
fear of personal appearances. 

This, then, was the position in which we stood 
in 1847. We had paid on the house in those 
ten years, besides what was paid at the sale of 
the pews, and from the price of the old house — 
say five thousand dollars, more or less — we had 
paid in those ten years, principal and interest, 
about ten thousand dollars. There now remained 
seven thousand five hundred to pay. After so 
long a bearing of the burden, many were getting 
discouraged, and feeling that the debt never 



396 THE I^IEETING HOUSE DEBT. 

could be paid. The debt — the debt — the debt 

— met us at every turn. The ability of the con- 
gregation had considerably increased. But the 
burden had pressed so long in one spot, that 
that spot was sore. In looking at the subject 
seriously, I began to think it possible that the 
debt, after all that we had done, might ruin us. 
I asked myself whether it might not be possible 
to rouse all to one determined effort to sweep it 
away. After a severe struggle, and much ear- 
nest prayer, I gained one important object. I 
convinced myself that there was a bare possi- 
bility of doing it. But as I knew not that an 
individual member of the parish thought it 
could be done, I had two difficult things to do 

— to convince others that it could be done, and 
show them a plan by which it might be done. 
Being very deficient in the talents of a financier, 
I undertook the latter part of the task with 
special distrust. But, in my own mind, I formed 
a plan which looked feasible, by which, through 
a generous, determined, and united ejffort, it 
seemed that it might be done. 

Having triumphed in the struggle in my own 
mind, and brought forth a plan on which I con- 
ceived the work possible, my next, and, as it 



THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 397 

seemed to me, the more difficult task was, to con- 
vince others that it might be done. For this 
end I prepared a discourse for the Friday even- 
ing lecture, and in it set forth my plans and ex- 
hortations, — not asking others to go and do 
this thing, but rather to come and do it. I 
promised to give towards the object more, in 
proportion to my means, than would be required 
of others. Before I opened my mouth to speak 
in the lecture of that evening, I was pressed 
with the consciousness that not an individual 
would have the least confidence in my plan. 
Yet my argument was favored somewhat by the 
felt necessities of the case. Providence had, 
seemingly, shut us up to do just that thing. 
Just before, from discouragement as to ever see- 
ing the debt paid, there had been a sad falling 
off in the usual effort to pay the interest. Many 
had become weary of a constant giving, without 
diminishing the debt. And all efforts to renew 
their interest in it had failed. 

And as we could not pay the interest, it was 
time to pay the principal. To make an effort to 
pay a part of it was impossible. Nothing would 
rouse to effort but the hope of being wholly free 
from debt. Nothing else could draw with suf- 
34 



398 THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 

ficient force on the common mind. Yet one 
risked the danger of being called delirious, if he 
asserted that the thing could be done — that by 
one voluntary effort such a people, most of them 
poor, could raise seven thousand dollars. 

Standing on this vantage ground, my argu- 
ment prevailed. Those who doubted at first, 
when they saw the general zeal that was kin- 
dled, became convinced. With wonderful una- 
nimity and determination all the people, with- 
out exception, took hold and did with their 
might. Take it all in all, it was one of the 
most remarkable events which I have been per- 
mitted to witness. When I look back upon it 
now, I cannot conceive how I could have con- 
vinced myself that the thing was possible. I 
seem to have been under a strange delusion — 
delusion I should call it, if tlie event had not 
verified it. I cannot doubt that there was a 
special operation of the Holy Spirit, both upon 
my own mind and upon that of the people. I 
looked around on the facts, as they were, and I 
inquired for the persons able and willing to do 
so much. By no arithmetic could I make out 
the amount in that way. And yet, somehow, I 
wrought myself into a strong persuasion that it 



THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 399 

would be done. I seemed to be renewing the 
experience of him who against hope believed in 
hope. And similar experience pervaded other 
minds. 

There was a special hand of Providence in 
moving us to do this work just then. "We could 
not go on longer as we were going. I had be- 
come discouraged with the position of things, 
and that very week I had had an invitation to 
listen to a call to another field, and was 
prompted to desire to have the matter decided, 
whether this church was to live or die. In 
every view a necessity came upon us to do that 
w^ork just at that time. There had not been a 
single month in the whole ten years before 
when it would have been safe to have made the 
experiment. And if it had been delayed another 
month, it would have been impossible by reason 
of a commercial panic which then occurred. So 
our steps were ordered by One who was wiser 
than we, and who brought on the crisis when we 
were able to meet it. Another indispensable 
condition of our success was a complete union 
of minds and hearts, and a universal coopera- 
tion. If even a few of the least able had re- 
fused their aid, we should have failed. There 



400 THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 

were none to stand aloof and criticize and dis- 
courage the plans of the rest. And it ought to 
be recorded in grateful acknowledgment of 
God's providence, that during all these strug- 
gles from the first incurring to the paying of 
the debt, the union of the society was perfect. 
That time filled out twelve years of my pas- 
torate. And in all that time there had been 
scarce a ripple of discordant feeling in the so- 
ciety. Our very troubles served to exclude 
strifes. When, with hearts appalled and dis- 
tressed, we consulted and prayed together for 
deliverance, we were well sustained in the con- 
sciousness of such a union as made available 
what strens:th we had. 

-Suflice it to say, that a debt of seven thousand 
five hundred dollars was cancelled by the earnest 
cooperation and self-sacrifice of a society, nine 
tenths of whom were persons of very limited 
means. In several instances individuals that 
had a single hundred dollars laid aside for a 
wet day gave it freely for the object. The 
result was astonishing both to us and to our 
neighbors. It had been confidently predicted, 
by persons of other societies, that we must fail. 
For ten years this had been the common belief. 



THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 401 

We supposed others judged us by themselves ; 
knowing that if such a debt were upon them, as 
a society, and not affecting individual responsi- 
bility, they would not attempt to pay it. Be 
that as it may, the fact that our killing debt 
was cancelled, and that without aid from abroad, 
produced a perfect surprise on the public mind. 
From that time forth this congregation ceased 
to be despised. There was then existing to- 
wards it a great amount of hostility, and great 
effort had been made to overwhelm it with con- 
tempt. But whatever feelings other societies 
now entertained towards it, it was impossible to 
despise it. This event met and turned back a 
vast tide of reproach. Here was an example 
of self-sacrifice to sustain the integrity of the 
society, — an attachment to principle and to re- 
ligious interests, — an example of union such as 
is rarely seen. And it manifestly had its effect 
on the public mind, and has ever since been one 
element of prosperity. 

There are some minds that can contemplate 
no act of a religious man, or of a religious body, 
without referring it to some mean and selfish 
motive. They judge others as Satan judged of 
Job. Because Satan knew that if he had done 
34* 



402 THE MEETING HOUSE DEBT. 

as Job had, it must have been for a selfish end, 
so he concluded that Job could have had no 
other. So he said, "Does Job serve God for 
nought ? " So many judge of all Christians. 
Here was an event to tax the ingenuity of this 
class of people. In an act of self-sacrifice, hun- 
dreds had concurred to discharge a debt vi^hich 
no one individual was legally bound to dis- 
charge, and where no one could be charged with 
violating his moral obligations if he failed to do 
it. It was done at a great sacrifice of the indi- 
viduals, — not of a few, but of all. It was done 
under such circumstances, that a refusal to 
make the sacrifice by a few out of the whole, 
would have defeated the plan. So here was at 
once a test and an illustration of the value of 
union. To what mean motive the opposers of 
religion ascribed it we never heard. We our- 
selves always felt that the hated Calvinism had 
much to do in it. We saw, or thought we saw, 
in the nature of our principles, taking hold as 
they do of God and eternity, that which fur- 
nished the sufiicient motive for such a sacrifice. 
Much as the multitude here are wont to dress 
the Calvinistic system in bear skins, and let 
loose the dogs of defamation upon it, no congre- 



THE TEMPERANCE ENTERPRISE. 403 

gation opposing, Calvinism on this ground has 
exhibited an example of the force of moral prin- 
ciple, and of the power of religion upon them- 
selves, equal to this. It were well to say less 
about those horrible doctrines till they were 
more carefully traced out in their results, to see 
if their fruits are so horrible. Either make the 
tree good and the fruit good, or the tree cor- 
rupt and its fruit corrupt. 

But how happened it that the society should 
have been able all to think and act alike, at a 
crisis when the least schism would have caused a 
failure ? It is due to the grace of God to refer 
this primarily to a purpose, on the part of God, 
to carry us safely through the crisis. He has 
all hearts in his hands, and he caused all hearts 
to be united, when it was with us a question of 
union or death. We purpose in the next chap- 
ter to speak more particularly of the causes of 
the general union that has prevailed in the 
society. 

One item of noteworthy experience of this 
society, since my connection with it, has relation 
to the temperance enterprise. The temperance 
reform had been in progress in New England 
some eight years before I came hither ; but up 



404 THE TEMPERANCE ENTERPRISE. 

to that time it had been chiefly under the aus- 
pices of evangelical ministers. In concurrence 
with others, I had, before I came hither, and 
from the start, lectured and preached extensively 
in favor of total abstinence from all intoxicat- 
ing drinks. I did the same after I came. But 
soon after, there came up what was called the 
Washingtonian movement, — begun by Hawkins 
of Baltimore, a reformed drunkard, who lec- 
tured extensively, and touched a chord of sym- 
pathy with drunkards, which drew them in 
crowds to hear him and be healed of their 
plagues. This movement at first promised 
great things. My own anticipations of it were 
great. At first I did my utmost to put it for- 
ward. But it soon became to be a feature of 
the movement, that as you are to set a thief to 
catcli a thief, so you must employ drunkards to 
reform drunkards. By the notoriety which the 
reformed drunkards acquired as speakers, the 
temptation became strong for drunkards to enter 
the reform on a short enlistment, to improve 
their gifts at public speaking. And many of 
this class of speakers sought notoriety by ex- 
aggerating the story of their own shame. There 
was a sort of competition among them to tell 



THE TEMPERANCE ENTERPRISE. 405 

the largest story of their own degradation. 
Many of them were men in all their habits 
thoroughly irreligious, and took occasion of 
their temperance speeches to pour abuse on the 
ministry and churches with whom the temper- 
ance enterprise began. These repulsive features 
of the thing soon arrayed against it most of the 
original friends of the temperance cause. I felt 
compelled at length to stand aloof from it ; but 
not till I had stood in my own pulpit with one 
of that class of lecturers, whose breath while he 
lectured w^as loaded with the fumes of brandy, 
and whose lecture was an enumeration of the 
men of genius who had been inebriates, so as to 
leave the impression that the use of brandy was 
one of the indications of superior intellect, and 
with one (as might be supposed) whose goodness 
was as the morning cloud and the early dew. 

My standing aloof from this movement was 
seized upon as proof that I was opposed to the 
temperance cause. And a strong effort was 
made, by persons who afterwards figured more 
largely in other forms of opposition to us, to 
draw off and divide us on that ground. While 
these matters were in agitation, I was giving a 
course of lectures to young men on other sub- 



40G THE TEMPERANCE ENTERPRISE. 

jects, at five o'clock, P. M., on the Sabbath. And 
evidently with a design to thwart me in that, a 
gathering of the so called Washingtonians was 
appointed to take place on the Common, in front 
of our house, at the same time, and a notice was 
sent in for me to read. I stated to the congre- 
gation that I had received such a notice, but 
that in the circumstances it was not possible not 
to see in it a personal offence, and a clear intent 
to thwart my efforts. But I remarked that I 
should not postpone my own appointment ; yet, 
instead of giving the lecture to young men, I 
should give a lecture to set forth my view of the 
so called "Washingtonianism ; not doubting that 
I should by that means draw as strongly upon 
the curiosity of their assembly as they would 
upon that of mine. When the hour for the lec- 
ture arrived, and when but a small part of what 
would otherwise have collected had arrived, a 
sudden shower came up, and those who had as- 
sembled for the open air speeches were com- 
pelled to flee into our house for shelter. So that 
Providence secured to me what had assembled 
for both congregations, and I went on quietly 
with my lecture before just the people that I 
would desire to have to hear it. In that lecture, 



THE TEMPERANCE ENTERPRISE. 407 

in describing the evils which had come in through 
the bad spirit of the lecturers and the habit of 
valuing lecturers in proportion to the depth of 
their boasted degradation, I used in my extem- 
pore speech the phrase " graduates of the 
GUTTER." That shocked the keener sensibilities 
of some of the fraternity. It was taken up and 
put forth in the newspapers and platform speeches 
as if it contained what was more offensive than 
blasphemy. And it lived on ribald tougues and 
pens till the time came when the whole commu- 
nity had come much to my estimate of the preach- 
ing of- graduates of the gutter, and so that the 
authorship of the phrase had become rather a 
compliment than a reproach. 

This is one of the episodes to the history of 
our struggle with the parish debt. We had 
several of the kind, though essentially from the 
same source. I know not that they at all in- 
creased the burden. They certainly contributed 
to sustain the energy of the society and its de- 
termination to live. 

The fact that that debt did not crush us came 
in a great measure from causes which could not 
operate in a society holding doctrines opposite 
to ours. 



408 THE TEMPERANCE ENTERPRISE. 

A religion that excludes that faith and trust 
in God which was the prime source of this move- 
ment, which excludes that conviction of eternal 
retributions that causes the true value of the 
gospel and its ordinances to be felt, could not 
have produced such a result. This case strongly 
illustrates the force of the doctrines of the cross 
as connected with the life and strength of a re- 
ligious body. Indeed, the whole history of the 
elevations and depressions of this church con- 
curs with all church history to show that what 
strength a congregation gains by encouraging a 
lax theology to secure the aid of those who can- 
not endure sound doctrine, is weakness in the 
end. That preaching which excludes the offence 
of the cross sooner or later exhausts the strength 
of the church. This chapter of the history of 
this church showing, in such a strong light the 
connection of the strong doctrines with the re- 
cuperative energy of the church, deserves to be 
written as with a pen of iron and the point of a 
diamond in the rock forever, that your children 
may avoid the rock on which the vessel has so 
often come near to being wrecked. Through 
this channel I would gladly address your chil- 
dren's children to latest times, and bid them 



THE TEMPERANCE ENTERPRISE. 409 

beware of checking the full utterance of those 
gospel truths which are offensive to the carnal 
mind, and which are jot the life and strength 
of God in his church, and the power of God unto 
salvation. 

But, well as we knew the causes that con- 
ducted us to success in that perilous hour, that 
success was surprising to ourselves. The general 
mind of the society for the time when the effort 
was in progress seemed to be under a special 
excitement, and when the act was completed we 
could hardly believe our own ears. When the 
Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we 
were like them that dream ; then was our mouth 
filled with laughter and our tongue with sing- 
ing. Then said they amongi^the heathen, The 
Lord hath done great things for them. The 
Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we 
are glad. They that sow in tears shall reap in 
joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing 
precious seed, shall doubtless come again with 
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. 
35 



CHAPTER XIY. 

Causes of Union. — Comeouters. — Spikitual Progress 
— SwAMPScoT Church. — Central Church. 

A Calvinistic cliurcli in Lynn has a peculiar 
position. The position of this church is well 
described in the language of the prophet. " Mine 
heritage is unto me as a speckled bird ; the birds 
round about are against her. Come, assemble 
all ye beasts of the field, come to devour. Many 
pastors have destroyed my vineyard ; they have 
trodden my portion under foot ; they have made 
my pleasant porti(|| a desolate wilderness." The 
anti-evangelical element which has come in 
through Arminianism and Methodism, and is- 
sued in manifold radicalisms, has, in all its 
modes of development, borne a special hostility 
to this church. When the zeal of the radical 
reformers was at its height, it was concentred 
upon us as the main barrier to that kind of re- 
form. In ordinary preaching I made no allu- 
sions to it. But now and then a crisis came 
which gave an opportunity to speak for good. 

(410) 



CAUSES OP UNION. 411 

In such cases I hesitated not to say what more 
prudent men might think imprudent. Then the 
hopes of opponents were, that a division would 
come in through a revulsion of a part against 
the rash utterance of the pulpit. After such 
hopes had been many times disappointed, then 
came up a mystery to be solved — Why the peo- 
ple did not embrace some of the convenient 
opportunities given them for division. This 
mystery was greater from the fact that in the 
agitating times referred to, most of the other 
societies in the place were divided on questions 
touching these reforms, and it seemed impossible 
to live in Lynn without a share in the tempest. 
During that time this society was -one of the 
most united and conservative. This, to those 
who felt bound to convert tWwholer town to a 
comeouter rabble, was an offence and an enigma. 
They could refer it to nothing but priestcraft. 
Nor could they tell how priestcraft could work 
such a wonder. 

The prime cause of it lay in the purpose and 
providence of God, who, in those days of re- 
buke and blasphemy, would have a witness for 
himself and a place of rest for his truth, and 
erect a barrier over which the fury of the mad- 



412 CAUSES OP UNION. 

dened elements might not go. Doctrines op- 
posed to the truth of Christ had come in, and 
produced their proper fruits. The true results 
of those doctrines were displayed in the insane 
fury of the ranters. So it was important that 
in one part of the same field God's truth should 
be sustained, and its proper fruits be set forth to 
the view. So it was important that the remnant 
adhering to Puritan truth, which had been pre- 
served in so many hairbreadth escapes, should 
then have the union and firmness to withstand 
the storm. 

Here was the prime cause of our union. Not 
the least of the subordinate causes was, the sac- 
rifices which the individuals of the society had 
made for the sake of the truth. Ever since the 
present generatio Aame upon the stage, the life 
of the church had hung in suspense. Ever and 
anon a crisis had come, which required great 
effort and sacrifice to preserve its life. These 
sacrifices caused its life to be cherished with 
deep affection, and the thought of its division to 
be repelled as horrible. 

Another cause of the union was found in the 
reaction of the instruments employed for divis- 
ion. One newspaper, sustained by its owner at 



CAUSES OF UNION. 413 

a great loss, made our destruction its main and 
declared purpose ; and tlie whole labor of the 
party of which that was the organ assumed that 
nothing could be done for its ends in Lynn as 
long as this church existed. The pressure of 
that hostility bore on every accessible point of 
this society. Every individual of us felt its 
force ; and against such a storm few would 
stand with us for other causes than an attach- 
ment to principle. By this means, the fearful 
and the self-seekers were sifted out, and only 
picked men were left, such as would be made to 
stand together the more firmly by all the curs- 
ing and bitterness that came in upon them. 

The doctrines held by us were another cause 
of the union. These, if true, are tremendously 
true, and fit to command the whole heart and 
soul. And these, we trust, are to some practical 
effect believed ; and the belief of them impels 
us to make sacrifices to sustain them, and will 
not allow us to fall out to their injury on every 
trivial occasion. We felt that this single church, 
standing alone for its principles amid so much 
opposition, bore immense responsibilities touch- 
ing the future weal of this growing community. 
It was felt that wc had come to a crisis, when 
35* 



414 CAUSES OP UNION. 

success would open issues of gladness on unborn 
generations, and defeat would intomb their last 
hope. So we dared not do otherwise than to 
stand firmly, shoulder to shoulder. 

Another occasion of this harmony has been in 
keeping clear a distinction between the respec- 
tive duties of the minister and people. The 
society never has been embarrassed by attempts 
at control on the part of the minister, nor has 
the minister been made the man of a party by 
the advice of parties respecting his duties. Ex- 
cept in the matter of lifting the debt, when 
there was a special occasion, I do not remember 
to have offered any influence to sliape the organic 
action of the society. Generally, its action has 
been taken without my even knowing any thing 
of its intended measures till after their execu- 
tion. Even when the meeting house was built, 
I gave no advice. The society has ever had 
men competent to manage its affairs wisely, and 
I have been happy to acknowledge their compe- 
tence by avoiding all interference with their de- 
partment of duty. And the same courtesy I 
have in a very special manner received from 
them. I have never in a single instance received 
advice or remonstrance as to the character of 



CAUSES OP UNION. 415 

my preaching. A few weeks after the commence- 
ment of my ministry here, a friend now in heaven 
called on me, and asked me if I would not make 
it a point always, in my public prayers, to pray 
for the abolition of slavery. I replied by asking 
him if he would not analyze his own feelings, 
and tell me if his desire to have me do it was 
not that he might be able to quote me as in sym- 
pathy with the abolition party. He confessed 
that it was. I told him that that was a proper 
subject for prayer, but prayer was not the proper 
way of promoting party interests in a congrega- 
tion. I had often introduced this subject in 
public prayers, and was ever willing to do it, 
where and when it would not be construed as 
the evidence of my adhesion to this or that 
party. He confessed the reasonableness of my 
ground, and lived and died one of my warmest 
friends. Excepting this, I do not now remem- 
ber a single attempt that has been made by any 
one to influence my action in the pulpit. 

Sometimes I have felt it to be my duty to lift 
up my voice with strength against some prevail- 
ing errors or vices. At such times it would 
have been easy for a few to do us and the cause 
a great injury. Such are times when timid ones, 



416 CAUSES OF UNION. 

if there are any, are apt to throw their influence 
against the preacher, and help the errors or vices 
assailed by causing divisions to weaken the arm 
of the assailant. The first hope of the adver- 
sary, in such a case, always is, that the boldness 
of the stroke will create divisions among our- 
selves. But such has been the manner of my 
people in such cases, that they never have made 
me afraid to do what I have thought wise to 
attempt. When a bold stroke has been struck, 
there have been multitudes out of the society who 
have apparently gone into a panic, and have 
said, " He will ruin his society ! Indeed, it is 
already broken up and scattering." But in such 
cases the society has not been made imprudent 
by my imprudence. They have not been wont 
to commit the imprudence of joining the alarm- 
cries coming from without, but have preferred 
quietly to await the issue, and see whether truth 
will not bear its own weight. This has been the 
greatest of all discouragements to opponents. 
After putting forth their worst emissions of bile, 
they have been wont to conclude with some ex- 
pression of despair, " It is of no use ; they are 
so under priestly tyranny that they will sustain 
liira, let him say what he will." This sustaining 



CAUSES OF UNION. 417 

of the freedom of the pulpit, and backing its 
issues with one mind, has contributed vastly to 
our efficiency. However much the truths which 
I have uttered in the present series needed to be 
uttered in a way to command a public hearing 
and a public consideration, the utterance could 
not have been made with any hope of good but 
in the midst of a people of tried firmness, who 
were willing, for the truth's sake, to bear their 
share of the reproach. 

I conceive that in this most trying duty of my 
whole ministry I have been called to do a work 
that will make a broader impression for good 
than any which I have done in this pulpit. After 
the surf and foam shall have passed away, and 
serious reflection shall come in, the effect will be 
seen. Yet I could not have been justified in 
undertaking such a work, had not former expe- 
rience given me the assurance that no faltering 
on the part of my hearers would have neutral- 
ized the effort. I am well aware that it was no 
light burden laid upon my people. They have 
kindred social and business connections with 
men of opposite views, which are liable to be 
marred. Then it is some trial to the nerves to 
sit and hear the utterance of truths known to be 



418 CAUSES OP UNION. 

offensive to many that are present. And it 
requires some force of conscience to take and 
bear one's share of testimony in favor of rejected 
truths. This, indeed, is no more than is the 
duty of every one. 

It were a base and mercenary view of gospel 
administrations that the truth must not be 
spoken till we have looked round and assured 
ourselves that no one's friends will be offended, 
no one's business be marred, and no one's pros- 
pects for office will be hurt. You have never 
required me to act on such a principle. And 
yet how often is the utterance of truth checked 
by such a principle ! It is a mistake to think 
that all the reproach for the truth's sake is to be 
borne by ministers, who peril their salvation if 
they shun to declare all the counsel of God. As 
hearers have a common interest in the truth 
preached, they have a common responsibility 
with preachers in holding forth the word of life, 
and in backing its testimony and bearing its 
burdens. And to the fact that this society has 
not been behind in this duty they owe it that 
they have risen above the flood of contempt 
that had been poured upon them for the truth's 
sake. 



CAUSES OF UNION. 419 

Still another causo of our union may bo 
found in one of the very things to which many 
would look for division. Now and then a crisis 
has come, when it has been a matter of plain 
duty to meet the errors by which we have been 
assailed, or some forms of public wickedness, in 
terms proportioned to the boldness of the aggres- 
sion. Sometimes, when that has been done, some 
individuals, who had never entered into the 
true spirit of our mission, have been shaken off. 
Their own sense of expediency has been offend- 
ed. They have felt bound to express their dis- 
sent by retiring ; and in their retiring, they have 
taken away just those persons that would have 
caused divisions. So that in meeting this and 
that crisis with the boldness which the occasion 
required, instead of causing dangerous divisions 
we have secured ourselves against the hatching 
of future divisions. This operation is now so 
well understood, from past experience, that no 
panics exist if an individual at any time finds his 
sense of expediency violated, and goes where' he 
can have it better satisfied. It is «een that such 
changes have contributed to make the society 
homogeneous and strong ; for the strength of a 



420 CAUSES OF UNION. 

society is sometimes promoted by sifting out, as 
well as by attracting in. 

Such is our apology for tliat union, tliat has 
been so great a scandal to our neighbors. 

To appreciate the difficulties experienced in 
lifting the debt, it must be borne in mind that 
though we were at peace within, there was a 
storm without. The abolition excitement had 
then been in progress several years. And now, 
the antichristian tendencies of the Garrison and 
Parker school had just begun to reveal them- 
selves. At the time of my settlement in Lynn, 
about half of the church were strongly in sym- 
pathy with the abolitionists. And because it 
then had not been clearly revealed whither Gar- 
rison was tending, they sympathized with him. 
And Garrison and his party had their prime 
seat of operations in Lynn. They claimed a 
special right to rule here, and took it as an in- 
dignity that a Calvinistic church should presume 
to exist on their ground. And as a part of this 
church were abolitionists, they expected of 
course to divide and make short work with it. 

Knowing that the abolitionists in the church 
were, for the most part, sound and reliable as 
Christians, and ready to revolt against the real 



CAUSES OF UNION. 421 

designs of Garrison and company, I applied my- 
self to make evident those designs, by distin- 
guishing between the Christian and antichristian 
modes of reform. In this, however, as in other 
instances where party feeling intervened, I 
rarely mentioned the subject in the pulpit — re- 
serving myself for some providential oppor- 
tunity to do the work by a single effort. That 
opportunity came. I was invited to make a dis- 
course at Andover on a public occasion, on just 
that subject. That discourse was by request 
published, under the title of " Moral Machinery 
Simplified." Its effect on the public mind 
abroad exceeded all my anticipations. Many, 
and some for years afterwards, have thanked 
me for it, as the means of settling their own 
minds, then in perplexity. Here the truth and 
justice of that discourse were more readily ad- 
mitted. For the living illustrations in the actual 
operations of Garrisonism were more abundant, 
and my having these illustrations before my eyes 
was probably a cause of the success which I had 
in the presentation of the subject. But, how- 
ever much or little that effort did to settle the 
minds of people here, the actual revelations of 
an antichristian spirit and design in the rcform- 
36 



422 CAUSES OF UNION. 

ers soon brought this church to a fixed and 
united conclusion ; so that, while other churches 
were rent by abolition strifes, this has never 
been divided at all on the subject. And because 
it was not, it awoke the special hostility of the 
malignants. It is well known that the abo- 
litionism of that party soon took the form of a 
war waged against the Sabbath, the ministry, 
the Bible, and civil government j and, among all 
the religious societies of this town, ours was 
singled out for the special object of hostility. 
It was constantly declared tliat nothing could 
be done here for reform while that Calvinistic 
church existed. Hence it was to be inferred 
that our principles were in more direct antag- 
onism with theirs than any other, and could offer 
a more compact resistance. Be that as it may, 
the main force of that hostility was concen- 
trated upon us. A weekly newspaper was pub- 
lished for many years to sustain that warfare. 
We were constantly beset with teasings to give 
Comeouter notices from the pulpit, or to open 
our house to lectures of the fraternity. At one 
time there was a great passion for converting or 
conquering meeting houses. And while that 
fever raged I was honored with a special visit. 



CAUSES OF UNION. 423 

One Saturday evening I was called from my 
study, and as I entered the parlor I was met by 
Christopher Robinson, who introduced me to his 
friend S. S. Foster. Mr. Foster lost no time in 
making known his business — which was, to 
make arrangements to occupy my pulpit, for a 
speech on abolition, on the morrow. Then, in 
substance, the following dialogue ensued : — 

Foster, I have special claims on the Congre- 
gationalists to aid me in my work ; for I belong 
to a Congregational church. 

Myself. What church? 

Foster, That in Hanover, New Hampshire. 

Myself, I have seen it stated in the papers that 
you were excommunicated from that church. 

Foster, That is true ; but that does not pre- 
vent my belonging to it. 

Myself, No ; if we understand that you be- 
long to it as a minus quantity, 

Foster, Be that as it may, I belong to the 
general humanity, and I wish to know if I can 
have your permission to address the people in 
your meeting house, on the subject of humanity, 
the next Sabbath. 

Myself, To that I can give you a categorical 
answer — No. 



424 CAUSES OP UNION. 

Foster. Can I have it a part of the day ? 

Myself. No, sir. 

Foster. Can I have the vestry ? 

Myself. No, sir. 

Foster. Can I have it in the evening ? 

Myself. No, sir. 

Foster. Who are your parish committee ? 
Since you claim to control the house on the 
Sabbath, I will try to get it some other day. 

Myself. I will save you that trouble. For 
this purpose you may consider me the parish 
committee. You cannot have it on any day. 

Foster. Then if I cannot have ray rights con- 
ceded to me, I must come and take them. 

Myself. Pray, sir, what are your rights in the 
case? 

Foster. It is ray right to address human beings 
on the subject of slavery and humanity wherever 
I can find them, and when your congregation 
shall assemble to-morrow it will be my right and 
duty to address them. 

Myself. Very well ; then your duties and 
mine will clash. While it will be }^our duty to 
address the congregation, it will be mine to see 
that you are as quietly as possible removed from 
the house. 



CAUSES OF UNION. 425 

Foster* If this is the way you do business, I 
will go out into the streets and collect around 
me the mechanics of Lynn, and the working 
men, and tell them what a tyrant you are. 

Myself, I believe that is now very well un- 
derstood, for it is a threadbare story. 

He left, saying that he was somewhat unwell ; 
but if ]ie should be well enough on the morrow, 
he should be in his place to claim his rights. As 
I entered the meeting house on Sabbath morn- 
ing, I communicated to a few individuals the 
facts in the case, that they might be ready. He 
came in and took his seat in a pew at the right 
hand of the pulpit ; and when I commenced 
the reading of the hymn for the second singing, 
he arose and commenced a speech. I requested 
him to be silent ; he continued. I spoke to him 
a second time, to require his silence ; but he 
persisted. Then he was taken in hand by sev- 
eral persons sitting near, who attempted to lead 
him out of the house. True to his non-resistant 
principles, he sank down in a passive state, and 
four bearers divided his four limbs between 
them for handles, and carried him out. Being- 
resisted in his attempt to return, he made his 
way across the Common to the Baptist meeting 
36* 



426 CAUSES OF UNION. 

house, and was there carried out and shut up in 
a closet till the exercise was finished. While 
this work was in progress, simultaneous assaults 
were made by other men of the same party on 
several other meeting houses in the town ; for 
this was only a part of a concerted plan to take 
by storm the meeting houses, the fortresses of 
slavery. 

This incident is given as an illustration of the 
spirit of the times. Lynn was then the home 
and centre of the sect that styled themselves 
Comeouters ; and they claimed this ground as 
especially their own. They represented this so- 
ciety and its minister as the greatest hinderance 
to their peculiar work ; and no effort was omit- 
ted that could tend to remove the hinderance. 
Arguments and reproaches were used to the 
exhaustion of their vocabulary. The grossest 
libels were published by tongue, pen, and press. 
My name was in constant requisition to point 
and inspire the wit of their speakers in all sorts 
of assemblies ; and to their newspaper, in its 
weekly issues, it had become as indispensable as 
the types. If I had any vanity in seeing my 
name in the papers, it was abundantly gratified ; 
and not only in Lynn, but all abroad, in the 



CAUSES OF UNION. 427 

speeclies and newspaper articles put fortli by 
tliese declaimcrs, it was used with great free- 
dom and malignity. The result was a great 
addition to my influence abroad. Thousands 
who, but for tlicse left-handed friends, would 
never have heard of me, were led to infer, from 
the manner in which my name was employed, 
that I had done a service, in opposition to such 
men, much more important than I had done ; so 
that, in fact, these revilers manufactured for me 
a reputation above my merits. 

It is not pleasant to be the song of the drunk- 
ard, nor the cant of the Comeouter ; yet I have 
never suffered an hour's loss of sleep from all 
that sort of abuse, and have taken no pains for 
defence of personal reputation when tlie grossest 
calumnies were abroad. And after so much ex- 
perience of the care of Providence in this mat- 
ter, I shall, if possible, be less moved by the 
present renewal of the dimications of scurrilous 
newspapers, only construing the fact that these 
are so persevered in as a sure proof that the 
.impression made is deep, and will be lasting, 
and that it has been made hy truth ; for other- 
wise it would have been repelled by more wor- 
thy means. 



428 CAUSES OF UNION. 

But to return from this digression. While 
the pseudo-reformers were alert against us, and 
watching to take advantage of every word or 
act, I had occasion to give public notice of two 
intended sermons on the subject of temperance, 
setting forth views in opposition to those of our 
assailants ; but they, assuming that I should say 
something that I should be unwilling to have 
published, incurred the expense of bringing in a 
professional reporter, to secure a verbatim re- 
port of my double sermon. The person em- 
ployed was no doubt a skilful stenographer, and 
I would have been glad to have had him suc- 
ceed. Nor was it a fault of his that he did not ; 
but my infirmity of rapid utterance, which has 
bafiEed all my efforts at control, bafiled him also. 

The report which he made was a miserable 
jumble. The editor of the reform newspaper 
gave, in his next paper, a paragraph of it as a 
specimen, with the announcement that the whole 
was to be published in a pamphlet. I informed 
him, through a note in another paper, that his 
report was worthless, and that if he wished to 
publish the sermon as it was, he was welcome to 
the use of my manuscript. His printer came to 
me in trouble, and inquired what ho should do. 



CAUSES OF UNION. 429 

He said tlie sermons were all in type, and lie 
could not print from the manuscript without a 
loss of the whole labor of composition. I told 
him it was a matter of indifference to me. If he 
chose to save expense, and publish the false re- 
port, I was willing, now that the falsity of it 
was known ; or if he chose to publish from the 
manuscript, it was at his service. He finally 
concluded to reset the whole, and print it cor- 
rectly. So I secured an object which I much 
desired — the publication of the sermon without 
expense ; and he incurred, in the reporting and 
false printing, an extra expense of about forty 
dollars, which was an entire waste. 

This incident is of value only as it illustrates 
the spirit with which a scandalous press was em- 
ployed, then as now, as one of the many instru- 
ments of assault upon us. Every thing that was 
said in this pulpit, that could in any way be tor- 
tured into a shape convenient for use in that pa- 
per, was sure to come back with its tortures the 
next week ; and that organized hostility was 
carried on till Providence, by a special hand, 
interfered, and suffered the true fruits of that 
reform to be produced in the person of one of 
its leading agents, in a way that shocked the 



430 CAUSES OF UNION. 

public conscience, and exploded tlie conspiracy 
of the reformers. 

Were it proper here to give the details of 
those events which constituted the finale of that 
conspiracy, it would remarkably illustrate the 
providence of God, causing the wicked to be 
snared in the work of their own hands. It was 
the carrying out of the very licentious principles 
for which they had been contending that gener- 
ated the explosion that blew them to fragments. 
Could the story be told, it would seem like 
romance. Could we give the history of one 
individual, — the leading figure in the group — 
describe him as he was while occupying a com- 
manding position — a professor of religion — 
his transit thence to the leadership of the Come- 
outers — all the characteristic things said and 
done while he supplied the material of the war, 
and prompted its measures ; and then could we 
tell to after ages what the living now know of 
the events which put an end to his reforming 
career, and what evils have come upon his house 
and himself, by plain consequence of his princi- 
ples and conduct, — it would bo a source of im- 
portant instruction. lie must be blind who can- 
not see the hand of God in such an experience 



■CAUSES OP UNION. 431 

of one who bad borne such a part in a noisy and 
filthy warfare against all that is sacred in Chris- 
tianity. And while we remember how often that 
man has uttered, and caused to be uttered and 
printed, at his expense, the declaration that 
nothing could be done for humanity in Lynn till 
this church could be destroyed, it becomes us 
especially to recognize a divine hand in tha't 
disastrous fall, deploring the ruin of a fellow- 
man, and standing in awe of the judgments of 
God, fulfilling those words of Christ respecting 
his kingdom — "Whosoever shall fall on this 
stone shall be broken ; and on whomsoever it 
shall fall, it will grind him to powder." These 
things have liappened for examples, and should 
be written for admonition. God brings good 
out of evil ; and the fall and ruin of some he 
makes to contribute to the standing and salva- 
tion of others. " I have seen the wicked in great 
power, and spreading himself like a green bay 
tree ; but he passed away, and lo, he was not ! 
yea, I sought him, but he could not be found." 

"We have thus far spoken chiefly of our ex- 
perience in outward condition. For spiritual 
progress our field has been a peculiarly hard 
one. What progress we have made has been 



432 CAUSES OF UNION. 

against mountains of impediments. By reason 
of tlie untoward events in former generations 
wliich we have described, the public mind had 
become broadly and deeply hostile to evan- 
gelical truth and godliness. The whole field on 
which we have stood to cast the good seed has 
been thick set with tares and cockles. And then 
an untold amount of prejudice existed against 
this church, sustained by the memory and tradi- 
tions of the malign events that have happened 
to it. Against these impediments we have la- 
bored on from year to year, making some prog- 
ress, and grateful for some progress when we 
knew that the progress must be slow, and en- 
couraged by evident signs that the prejudice is 
wearing away. That effort made to pay that 
hopeless debt did much to command a public 
respect for this church, and give it an influence 
with men's consciences which it had not before. 
It showed a force of moral principle and an at- 
tachment to religious truth which the public 
conscience could not but approve. It has been 
worth all it cost in the effect it has had on the 
public mind. Men of other persuasions have 
been compelled to ask themselves whether, if 
the case were theirs, they should have paid the 



CAUSES OF UNION. 433 

debt, wlien no individuals were legally bound 
for it. 

But whether the cause be this or that, the 
effect is manifest. There has been a great and 
favorable change in the relative position and in- 
fluence of this society. One person of sound 
judgment, who has been long conversant with 
our history, but who is not a member of our soci- 
ety, once remarked to me that the influence and 
force of Orthodox Congregationalism over the 
general mind in this place had advanced ten- 
fold within the last fifteen years. Whether this 
be an overstatement of the matter or not, it is 
clear to every observer of both the past and 
present that the advance has been great. Where 
is now the congregation in Lynn whose moral 
force over adjaceut minds, hostile as those minds 
may be to its principles, is greater than that of 
this? 

That the impediments, great as they now are, 
are decidedly less than they were, is evident to 
my own consciousness. I can study and preach 
with vastly more of hope than I could ten or 
fifteen years ago, for the same labor appears to 
produce more results. The seed sown does not 
so much rebound as if falling on a rock. 
37 



434 CAUSES OP UNION. 

We have had no very extensive revivals of 
religion. There have been two seasons that 
might be called revivals. But most of the con- 
versions and additions to the church have been 
in individual cases, occurring when there was 
no general revival. Since my connection with 
the church, two hundred and forty-six members 
have been admitted, that is, an average of thir- 
teen a year ; and these are nineteen more mem- 
bers than are now in the church. Of these, one 
'hundred and twenty-two — about half — were ad- 
mitted by profession.' This is a small number con- 
sidering the time and size of the congregation, 
but not small considering the tide which has set 
against us. During this time there have been 
two offshoots, or colonies, from us ; for that in 
Swampscot took a sufficient proportion of its 
members from us to entitle it to that name, 
though, by reason of its distance from us, it 
diminished our numbers but very little. And 
now, reckoning in the worshippers of the three 
congregations, the number of Congregational 
worshippers on the ground is four times what 
it was when we first entered our present meet- 
ing house. That probably cannot be said of 
any other denomination in town. 



CAUSES OF UNION. 435 

The most considerable diminution of our num- 
bers was made in the commencement of the 
Central Church. The individual (Hon. Isaiah 
Breed) who bore the greatest burden of that 
enterprise had sustained the heaviest burden in 
the event of finally extinguishing our debt. He 
had come to us from another denomination, 
while we were under our greatest embarrass- 
ments, and put his shoulder generously under 
our burdens. And he could not have manifested 
a deeper interest, nor acted with a higher gen- 
erosity, if he had been with us from the first. 
And while he helped to carry our burdens, it 
was distinctly understood that one of his motives 
was, that the way might sooner be opened for 
the commencement of a new church in his own 
neighborhood, where all felt that one was so 
much needed. Accordingly, as soon as we had 
had breathing time, after our debt was paid, that 
is, in the fall of 1849, separate worship on the 
Sabbath was commenced in the locality of the 
Central Church. On many accounts the fact 
was regretted by us. "We were sorry to lose 
friends who had wrought with us so effectually. 
But the expediency of the undertaking was clear 
to all, and nothing could be said against it. 



436 CAUSES OF UNION. 

That society has now had separate worship 
five 3^ears and a half ; and during that time the 
relations between the two societies have been 
eminently happy — a fact which deserves our 
grateful acknowledgments. 

For the last thirty years, in spite of all the 
adverse experiences, and the hardness of the 
field, beset with briers and thorns, the Congre- 
gational interest 'has here made a very encour- 
aging advance. Go back in thought to that 
meeting of the society held in the time of Mr. 
Eockwood's ministry, when the motion was made 
to disband. See what wa-s then the extent of 
the Congregational interest in all the town, in- 
cluding Swampscot ; and then survey the three 
congregations that have now acquired an inde- 
pendent position here ; and you will see that 
there has been a progress fully rewarding all 
the faith and patience that have been spent in it, 
and fully justifying our erecting here our " stone 
of help," and engraving on it, " Hitherto hath 
the Lord helped us." 

It is instructive to retrace the instances in the 
history of this church wherein it had a hair's- 
breadth escape from extinction. There were 
two instances within the last twenty years : that 



CAUSES OF UNION. 437 

when the extent of the debt was first realized, 
and the question of a failure was seriously de- 
bated, and that when life depended on what was 
seemingly impossible — our paying the whole 
debt at once. We have also found one such crisis 
in Mr. Eockwood's ministry. There was another 
at the time of the dismission of Mr. Hurd ; and 
at the dismission of Mr. Thacher, the council 
found occasion to exhort the church not to die, 
in terms which indicated that it was near death. 
There was another when the question of life 
turned on Dr. Harris declining a call. But the 
most discouraging of all was when, under the 
ministry of Mr. Parsons, one hundred and eight 
persons at once certificated from the society, 
and when the church was reduced to five male 
members. In all those cases, the hand of God 
preserving the church was clear to be seen. 
Most pertinent to our case are those words of 
the Psalmist, " If it had not been the Lord who 
was on our side when men rose up against us, 
then had they swallowed us up quick." 

It is natural, before we close these remarks, 

to compare the type of religion now in vogue 

here with what prevailed in the first generations 

of Lynn. With the present prevailing sect in 

37* 



438 CAUSES OF UNION. 

Lynn, the pulpits are constantly ringing with 
denunciations of the horrible Calvinistic doc- 
trines — such as the doctrine of election, and of 
the saints' perseverance, and the like. These 
plain truths of the Bible are held up to popular 
odium, as demoralizing and soul-destroying ; and 
the current representation here is, that any thing 
but Arminianism, if it do not entirely exclude 
Christian character, must allow of only a stint- 
ed growth of it. Now, let us compare the type 
of Christian character which here abounds under 
Arminian auspices with what Calvinism produced 
in Whiting and Cobbett, and the like of them, 
under their ministry. Those so called horrible 
doctrines, election and perseverance, which are 
now declared to have such a licentious tendency, 
were among the prime elements of their spirit- 
ual life ; and with such food and drink, such 
strong meat, they attained vigor and stature. 
If their doctrines were so much the worse, and 
yours so much the better, it were well to show 
it in the superior holiness of life attained. 

Now recall the description given by contempo- 
rary historians of the first pastors of this church. 
What is said of Whiting, whom they called, by 
way of eminence, "the man of God"? — who, 



CAUSES OF UNION. 439 

though skilful in doctrine, was said to have done 
the things that are to be taught better than he 
taught the things which are to be done ; whose 
meekness of wisdom so outshone his rich attain- 
ments in sacred learning that his face, the image 
of his mind, was ever unclouded with storms of 
passion ; whose daily walk with God was mani- 
fest to his people, and a subject of common 
remark and admiration ; who had rare skill and 
success in speaking a word in season to the 
wicked. Recall also what is said of his col- 
league, Cobbett ; how, as a prince, he had power 
with God in prayer ; what remarkable answers 
to prayer he obtained ; how he is said to have 
been always pulling at that golden chain which 
ties the tongue of man to the ear of God. Yea, 
read his remarkable treatise on prayer, which 
on every page reveals a mind richly freighted 
with the treasures of experience in prayer, and 
in the applications of Scripture to it, and the 
equal of which treatise on that subject has not 
been produced from that day to this. Ecad the 
testimony of historians, who say that the coun- 
try so owed its preservation to his prayers that 
in his death it lost its chariots and horsemen. 
Yea, behold those two men in their associate 



440 CAUSES OF UNION. 

labors and communings, as exemplifying the love 
of the Spirit. The historian says, " Great was 
the love that sweetened the labors and whole 
conversation and vicinity of these fellow-labor- 
ers — the rays with which they illumined the 
house of God sweetly united. They were almost 
every day together, and thought it a long day if 
they were not. And these two angelic men 
seemed willing to give one another as little 
jostle as the angels upon Jacob's ladder, while 
one was ascending and the other descending.'' 
Such was the piety of those ministers. And 
without resorting to the rule, " Like people like 
priest," we learn enough respecting their people 
to know that they were congenial spirits with 
them, and held them in high esteem for their 
eminent godliness. 

Now, such was the type of the piety that ruled 
in the persons of these lovers and preachers of 
these horrible doctrines of Calvinism. The tree 
is known by its fruits. And if you can show no 
better fruits than these, the conclusion is, that 
your trees are no better. After your most glow- 
ing declamation against the doctrines of grace, 
we ask the liberty of only one question — and 
that is, Where are your facts ? Where are your 



CAUSES OF UNION. 441 

results corresponding to the claimed superiority 
of your principles ? We grant that those men 
were eminent, and above the average products 
of our system, now put forth with too little 
energy. And so is the present piety of Lynn 
Methodism above the average products of its 
system. This is the paradise of that system, 
and until it can show that it has made an ad- 
vance on the piety existing on the same ground 
two centuries before, it may as well be silent as 
to the horrible doctrines held by those men of 
God. For if, after all the boasts made of hav- 
ing more reasonable and scriptural doctrines, 
and all that is said of the ruinous tendency of 
the doctrines of the cross, you have brought in, 
instead of the full-souled and manly piety and 
martyr spirit of the Puritans, a weak and sickly 
product, the improvement is not to be spoken of. 
Our civil and social interests have incurred 
great danger, through the departure of so many 
from the original and Puritan faith. All his- 
tory, Mr. Bancroft being judge, shows Calvinism 
to be the great generator and preserver of free 
institutions. And in the experience of our 
country, the increase of radicalism, vice, and 
crime, which is now a source of alarm, has 



442 CAUSES OF UNION. 

kept pace with, the people's departures from Cal- 
vinism. Our only safety lies in a return to the 
patriotism, the love of order and freedom, which 
conducted us through the war for independence. 
But we cannot rear the fruit without the tree, 
nor secure the patriotism without recalling the 
Calvinism that produced it, nor save the com- 
ing generations from impending ruin, without a 
broad and earnest inculcation of the doctrines 
of the cross. If there be such a difference in 
the civil and social products of the different 
faiths, we have — to say nothing of the immor- 
tal interests imperilled — great reason to dread 
the civil consequences of the prevalent latitu- 
dinarian and licentious views of religion. And 
one ground of hope for Lynn is, that for the last 
quarter of a century, Calvinism in it has several 
times doubled its amount of life and influence. 



APPENDIX 



We requested Mr. Boice, consulting the records of the society 
of Friends, to furnish us in detail all the instances in which that 
society suffered any thing like persecution from ours. And he 
has done it. But we give in a condensed form the results of the 
list which he has furnished. "We intended to spread out all the 
details ; but the work has filled so much more space than we had 
expected, that we have crowded out not a little of our own ma- 
terial that we intended to insert. All the ends of the publication 
of this list will be answered by this condensation of the facts. 

It does not appear that any acts of persecution took place, ex- 
cept that of distraint of goods, and fines for refusing military 
service. Most of the cases of distraint of goods are dated in the 
latter part of Mr. Shepard's ministry. None of them bear date 
earlier than 1697, and none later than 1717- So they all come 
within the space of twenty years. A small portion of them were 
for militaiy fines ; the rest to support the ministry, and pay ex- 
penses on the meeting house. The aggregate sum of the value 
of all goods distrained for those purposes through those twenty 
years is one hundred and twelve pounds eighteen shillings. The 
instances specified of persons having goods distrained are fifty- 
three ; but the number must somewhat exceed this, as in some 
cases et cetaeras are put down. Such is the substance of the pa 
per referred to. 

The explanation of the causes of that action, so far as it con 

(443) 



444 APPENDIX. 

cerns the support of the ministiy, we have given in full. So far 
as it relates to military fines, we think that, if this were all that 
the Friends paid for their defence from Indian wars, so rife in 
those days, they were let aff easy ; for then the military work 
was no children's play. To this their reply would be, that the 
non-resistant principles of the Quakers were their defence. This 
is a matter of mere assumption and much question, to say the 
least. But if it were so touching Quakers living in separate com- 
munities, where their non-resistant principles could be known to 
the Indians, and the Romish priests who guided their operations* 
and who would be sure to hate them none the less for their Qua- 
kerism, it could not be so with Quakers living in commiinities 
with the Puritans undistinguished. If the settlement in Ljnn, as 
it then stood, had come under a sudden assault and massacre by the 
Indians, by what process could the tomahawk have distinguished 
and passed by the Quaker families ? And this community of ex- 
posure to the tomahawk by a promiscuous residence with the 
Puritans, chosen by the Quakers against the desire of the others, 
was a fact for which only themselves were responsible. They had 
chosen a residence where all were exposed to a common danger, 
but were not forced to go forth in person for wars of defence ; 
and it was no hardship that, to so small an extent, their money 
was taken for the common purposes, any more than it now is 
that they pay taxes to the common purposes of government, one 
of which purposes is that of national military defence. In other 
words, the principle on which military fines were collected from 
Quakers then was the same as that on which Quakers now pay 
taxes to the government ; and this is not regarded as a matter 
of persecution. 



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